December 2, 2009 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Dec 2, 2009

PH2009120102746.jpgTODAY: Activists call for investigation into death of journalist Olga Kotovskaya, ruled as suicide, they say murder; Magnitsky letters reveal extent of abuse; the judiciary fights back against corruption.  OSCE unexcited by Medvedev pact; Rogozin threatens NATO with limited Afghan help after lack of response; Sochi logo bankrupting power; Russian academics barred from Georgia; ‘positive’ history; Google.

The Guardian reports on how rights groups are calling for an investigation into the ‘suicide’ of journalist Olga Kotovskaya, who fell to her death from a 14-story building in Kaliningrad, just a day after she had won a court case to regain control over the independent-thinking TV channel she ran.  ‘Living conditions here are worse than anywhere I’ve been before’: the AP interviews Sergei Magnitsky’s mother and discusses his letters from jail.  Apparently the Russian Supreme Court is not investigating the fact that Magnitsky died at Butyrka prison According to the Other Russia, judges are demanding the right to begin criminal proceedings against those attempting to pressure them and obstruct the correct workings of legal procedures.  Yulia Latynina laments the decline of law enforcement structures in the Moscow Times.  The political infighting behind proposed reforms to the police is analyzed on RFE/RL.