Stanislav Markelov
Станислав Маркелов
Stanislav Markelov at a Moscow seminar in Bilingua club on 13 November 2007
Born
Stanislav Yuryevich Markelov

20 May 1974
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died19 January 2009(2009-01-19) (aged 34)
Moscow, Russia
Occupation(s)Human rights lawyer and journalist

Stanislav Yuryevich Markelov (Russian: Станисла́в Ю́рьевич Марке́лов, IPA: [stənʲɪˈslaf ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mɐrˈkʲeləf]; 20 May 1974 – 19 January 2009) was a Russian human rights lawyer. He participated in a number of publicized cases, including those of left-wing political activists and antifascists persecuted since the 1990s, as well as journalists and victims of police violence.

Inter alia, Markelov had been the attorney for the family of Elza Kungaeva, a young Chechen woman killed by Russian colonel Yuri Budanov, who was released from prison in mid-January, 15 months before his original sentence was to end.

Markelov was murdered on 19 January 2009 in Moscow.

Career

Markelov was a president of the Russian Rule of Law Institute.[1] He represented Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in Moscow in 2006; Mikhail Beketov, the editor of a pro-opposition newspaper who was severely beaten in November 2008; and many Chechen civilians who had been tortured. He also defended people who were victims of the Moscow theater hostage crisis.[2]

Assassination

Markelov was shot to death on 19 January 2009 while leaving a news conference in Moscow less than 800 metres (1⁄2 mi) from the Kremlin; he was 34. Anastasia Baburova, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta who tried to come to Markelov's assistance, was also shot and killed in the attack.[3][4]

The president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko sent a telegram to the parents of Anastasia Baburova on 23 January 2009.[5] Russian President Dmitry Medvedev offered his condolences six days later.[6][7][8]

Reactions

Close to 300 young people protested in Moscow with slogans such as "United Russia is a fascist country" and "Markelov will live forever".[9] More than 2,000 people took to the streets of Grozny.[10]

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International requested an impartial investigation.[11]

A hate crimes expert, Galina Kozhevnikova, said in February 2009 that she received an e-mailed threat warning her to "get ready" to join Markelov.[12]

Investigation

In November 2009, Russian authorities declared the end of the criminal investigation. The murder suspects were 29-year-old Nikita Tikhonov and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Yevgenia Khasis, a radical nationalist couple involved with a group called Russky Obraz or Russian Image (Russian: Русский образ) and associated with the identitarian organization BORN (Battle Organization of Russian Nationalists) (Russian: Боевая организация русских националистов).[13][14]

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "President of the Rule of Law Institute". Rule of Law Institute. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009.
    2. ↑ Anna Politkovskaya's lawyer Stanislav Markelov shot dead in Moscow Times Online
    3. ↑ "Chechen Rights Lawyer and Journalist Shot in Moscow". The International Herald Tribune Retrieved 19 January 2009
    4. ↑ Schwirtz, Michael (20 January 2009). "Leading Russian Rights Lawyer Is Shot to Death in Moscow, Along With Journalist". New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2009. A prominent Russian lawyer who spent the better part of a decade pursuing contentious human rights and social justice cases was killed on Monday in a brazen daylight assassination in central Moscow, officials said. The lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, had just left a news conference where he announced that he would continue to fight against the early release from jail of Yuri D. Budanov, a former Russian tank commander imprisoned for murdering a young Chechen woman.
    5. ↑ Виктор Ющенко выразил соболезнования в связи с гибелью журналистки Анастасии Бабуровой, condolence message of the President of Ukraine (in Russian) (23 January 2009)
    6. ↑ "Medvedev Expresses Condolences Over Journalist Slain in Moscow". Bloomberg. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
    7. ↑ Дмитрий Медведев сказал, почему не выразил соболезнования в связи с убийством Маркелова и Бабуровой (in Russian). Mideast. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
    8. ↑ Belton, Catherine (30 January 2009). "Medvedev sympathy for murdered activists signals break from past". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
    9. ↑ Анархисты все-таки прошли шествием по Москве, grani.ru (20 January 2009)(in Russian)
    10. ↑ "Чеченцы хотят увековечить память убитого адвоката". www.svobodanews.ru (in Russian). 20 January 2009.
    11. ↑ "Правозащитники требуют расследования убийства Маркелова". www.grani.ru (in Russian). 20 January 2009.
    12. ↑ "Activists: Russian reporters under neo-Nazi threat". The International Herald Tribune. 12 February 2009.
    13. ↑ "Russian neo-Nazi gets life sentence for murdering lawyer and journalist". theguardian.com. 6 May 2011.
    14. ↑ "Nationalist Suspected in High-Profile Killings Extradited". themoscowtimes.com. 11 November 2013.

    His articles

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