A human rights lawyer well-known for his work on abuses in Chechnya, Stanislav Markelov, and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova were shot to death Monday in broad daylight by a masked gunman who trailed Markelov from a press conference in Moscow.
Markelov had at the January 19 press conference condemned the early release of Yuri Bodanov, a Russian former colonel who was sentenced in 2003 to ten years in prison for the murder of an 18-year-old Chechen, Elza Kungayeva, whose family Markelov was representing.
As they left the press conference at 2pm, a masked man wearing a chapka (Russian fur hat) shot Markelov. The young journalist was shot in the head as she tried to prevent the killer from escaping and died a few hours later from her injuries without regaining consciousness. Markelov had recently received death threats. The prosecutor-general, Yuri Chayka, said he was taking control of the investigation.
“We offer our condolences to the families of Anastasia Baburova and Stanislas Markelov,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “Their deaths are a tragedy, resulting from the persistent hold of violence on Russian society but also the impunity that reigns in cases of murders of journalists and rights activists.”
“We salute the courage of Markelov, who had defended many journalists including Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in October 2006, and Mikhaïl Beketov, assaulted last November. Russia has lost a tenacious lawyer who did his utmost to defend the interests of families of victims of atrocities in Russian Caucasia”.
“Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of Anastasia Baburova, who made the choice to become a journalist and deal with sensitive issues, particularly ultra-nationalism. She was a brave young woman, which is clearly demonstrated by the fact that she was fatally injured while trying to stop the gunman,” the organisation added.
“The authorities must quickly hunt down, identify and try those responsible for this double murder. Murders of journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in Russia can only be stopped by breaking the cycle of impunity,” it concluded.
The trial of the four suspects in the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, who tirelessly exposed crimes committed in Chechnya, resumed the same day in Mosocw. Neither those who ordered her killed nor the suspected gunman are among those in the dock.
Ceremonies in memory of Stanislas Markelov and Anastassia Baburova were held in Moscow and Chechnya.
