Tetiana Lytvynova

Growing up in an environment torn apart by violence and alcohol, a young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer.

World-renowned journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya went from being a local print journalist to braving the Chechen killing fields and exposing Russian state corruption under Vladimir Putin. She refused to give up reporting on the war in Chechnya despite numerous acts of intimidation and violence, including being poisoned. She was ultimately murdered in the elevator of her block of flats and it remains unclear who paid for the contract killing.