Tomorrow on January 19 (at 14-30) the leader and activists
of the YABLOKO party will lay flowers to the place at Prechistenka
street where lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya
Baburova were killed.
Later on the same day (20-00) Sergei Mitrokhin will participate
in the memorial rally organised by the Committee of January
19 . The rally will take place in the Novopushkinsky garden.
Markelov and Baburova were murdered in Moscow in plain daylight
on January 19, 2009, shot in the head by a gunman.
The murders were brazen and demonstrative. There were versions
as far as motives of this crime are concerned. Markelov as
lawyer handled cases connected with violence in Chechnya,
both against the federal forces who tortured and murdered
Chechen civilians, and the Chechen leadership, who suspected
of kidnapping and murders. He also represented journalist
Mikhail Beketov, who was attacked and severly injured in autumn
2008 allegedly due to his criticism of the Khimki Mayor Vladimir
Strelchenko.
Stas and Nastya’s comrades in the antifascist movement assumed
that neo-Nazis had been involved, as Stanislav Markelov pressed
the law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation of
the murder of young antifascist Alexander Riukhin (in the
spring of 2006). Due to Markelov’s efforts the authorities
were unable to sweep this case under the rug. Due to his persistence
the police investigators not only came up with a list of suspects,
but also brought the case to court. Half of the people on
the list were proved to be involved in Alexander’s murder
and were arrested and convicted, while the rest were placed
on the federal wanted list.
See also:
Human
Rights
Freedom
of Speech
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