Press Release, 19.01.2015

Today YABLOKO activists paid tribute to the memory of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova. The activists laid flowers to the place where Markelov and Babuyrova were killed killed by neo-Nazis at Prechistinka 1, Moscow, on January 19, 2009.

“We also always commemorate other victims of the terror. Not all of these crimes have been investigated, and today, once again we can tell to our citizens what an evil nationalism which took the lives of Markelov and Baburova is, what an evil the terror state where we all live is,” said YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin commemorating journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Yury Schekochikhin.

“We will always remember them, they accomplished an exploit for our sake, we must always remember them and continue their cause,” Mitrokhin concluded.

Alexei Nesternko, YABLOKO member and activist, called everyone to “leave indifference in the past and be active both in memory and in action”.

YABLOKO takes place in the memory action every year.

Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova were murdered in Moscow in plain daylight on January 19, 2009, shot in the head by neo-Nazies. The murders were brazen and demonstrative. Markelov as lawyer handled cases connected with violence in Chechnya, both against the federal forces who tortured and murdered Chechen civilians, and against the Chechen leadership, who were suspected of kidnapping and murders. Journalist Anastasiya Baburova was at the murder site when Stanislav was gunned, tried to follow the killer and was also killed.