Civil funeral service in memory of journalist and public
activist Mikhail Beketov took place at the House of Journalists
today. Mikhail Beketov was a Russian journalist who combated
against crime and corruption in the city of Khimki (including
defence of Khimki Forest which had to be cut due the construction
of the Moscow–Saint Petersburg highway).

Beketov was attacked and severely injured by “unidentified
persons” in 2008. As a result his leg and fingers on the left
hand were amputated, he lost speech and became handicapped.
The attackers have not been found. He died in hospital of
complications due to brain damage at the age of 55 on 8 April
2013.

Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, Editor-in-Chief of oppositional
Novaya Gazeta Dmitry Muratov, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin,
leader of the Khimki Forest Movement Yevgenia Chirikova, journalists
Yevgenia Albats and Oleg Kozyrev, and other well-known journalists,
politicians, public figures and citizens of the Khimki city
came to pay tribute to Mikhail Beketov. Vsevolod Bogdanov,
head of the Russian Journalists’ Union, read out the telegram
of condolence from President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

“I have to question myself: do we really need a Sherlock Holmes
to investigate this case? Is the circle of suspects so wide
that it takes so much time to investigate the case? However,
the circle of possible perpetrators is narrow and the circle
of those who ordered this crime is even narrower. This makes
me suspect that the reason is not the incompetence of the
authorities, but something else,” said Ombudsman Vladimir
Lukin.

Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s Ombudsman

The Ombudsman recalled that the murder of another outstanding
journalist Yuri Shekochikhin had not been investigated properly.

“Mikhail Beketov struggled face to face against the crime
in Khimki, and there are a few people like him, however, there
are a lot of journalists among these few. This list [of murdered
journalists] coincides with the list of unsolved murders.
The investigators know the name of the person who ordered
this crime, but there is no will so that to bring this person
to justice. The tragedy of our country is that outright criminals
are in power now. Mikhail stood in their way and was murdered.
President Putin should have sent not only his condolences,
but had to keep up his promise and take the case under his
control. What else but death can become a reason for this?
May the memory to a great person Mikhail Beketov live forever,”
said Sergei Mitrokhin.

Sergei Mitrokhin

Yevgenia Chirikova said that Mikhail Beketov had been the
first to agree to meet her and write about cutting of Khimky
forest. She is a witness in the Beketov case and told that
Mikhail had known about the planned assassination. He had
even carried a traumatic gun before the attack. He had told
his friends that if something happened to him, the trace could
be found in the Khimki Administration.

Yevgenia Chirikova thanked Sergei Mitrokhin, who had helped
to transport Mikhail Beketov from the hospital in Khimki where
he had been slowly dying to the Sklifosovsky Research Institute
of Emergency Medicine, and this prolonged Mikhail’s life for
a few years. Chirikova also thanked Elena Kostuchenko, who
had donated her blood to Mikhail Beketov and had been supporting
him during his last years.

Yevgenia Chirikova

All those present at the ceremony could not hide their tears.
See also:

Human
Rights

Freedom
of Speech