Russian Human Rights Activist Murdered

Gina Ponzi

January 27, 2009

11:12 pm



Yet two more mysterious murders in Russia are connected to human rights issues. Stanislav Markelov, a human rights activist and lawyer in Russia, and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist who worked for Novaya Gazeta, were murdered Monday just after leaving a news conference in Moscow. At the conference, Mr. Markelov had announced his plans to continue contesting the early release of Yuri D. Burdanov, a Russian official convicted of strangling an 18 year-old Chechen girl in his quarters. Speculations are being made; the crime shows evidence of a contract killing, which is no strange occurrence in Russia. Mr. Markelov was famous in Russia for his brazen criticisms of the government, and for defending the rights of victims of violent military action resulting from the Russian and Chechen conflict, such as the young Chechen girl murdered by Burdanov. In addition, Mr. Markelov defended the victims of neo-fascist and xenophobic violence. In the past three weeks alone, there were at least10 reported killings and 9 injuries due to racist attacks.

While the final verdict on the victim’s killer remains uncertain, it would not be hasty to assume that the murder was related to Mr. Markelov’s involvement with human rights issues. However, one would hardly expect that human rights activism could essentially pronounce your own death sentence. But let’s look at the facts: over the past 9 years, Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper known for its criticism of the government’s infringement on human rights issues, has lost 4 journalists to “mysterious circumstances” within the past 9 years. Coincidence? I wish I could say I think so.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/world/europe/20chechnya.html?ref=europe