(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The motive for the murder is currently unknown. The 34-year-old Markelov headed the "Department of Legal Security" and was known as a high-profile rights advocate. He took on things that his colleagues did not dare to take because they were afraid of their lives. He defended people of different nationalities. They were victims of violence by Russian fascists, police and military. On one of many websites of the Russian fascist groups, the lawyer was promised the same fate as the rights defender Girenko (in 2004, the scientist and anti-fascist Girenko was killed with a shot through the front door of his apartment).
Five years ago, Markelov was attacked in the Moscow metro by skinheads. It was in connection with the famous lawsuit against Colonel Budanov. During the war in Chechnya, Budanov abducted, raped and tortured the 18 year old Chechen girl Elsa Kungajeva.
During the trial, the building was surrounded by fascists. They stated that Budanov was a Russian patriot and demanded that he feel innocent. The aggression on the part of the Russian Nazi was so great that the victims' parents had to flee from Russia. They have been granted residence in Norway. Attorney Markelov, who was the family's legal counsel, also received anonymous threats.
Thanks to Markelov's efforts, Budanov was found guilty of killing and abusing his position. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. But due to good behavior, he was recently released, long before his time. Attorney Markelov was upset over this injustice and held a press conference on January 19. There he demanded that trial be opened against certain public officials. When the lawyer walked out onto the street after the press meeting, he was shot in the back of the head by an unknown, masked man.
The journalist Anastasia Baburova went with him. According to unconfirmed sources, she tried to stop the killer. She was also shot in the head. We can imagine the parents' grief. They lost their only daughter.
Last year, 25-year-old Anastasia Baburova attended the Institute of Journalism at the University of Moscow and wrote freelance for the opposition newspaper Novaja gazeta. She covered the lawsuit against Budanov and lawsuits against Russian fascists. She has published articles supporting youth who are in opposition to the Kremlin. She has also participated in demonstrations in Moscow.
Anastasia Baburova is the fifth journalist from the Novaja gazeta killed. Anna Politkovskaya also worked there.
The feast in connection with the Baptism of the Jordan was darkened by another death. That day it became known that the 20-year-old Anton Stradymov had been killed. He was active in the youth movement "The Disagreement March" and a member of a banned national-Bolshevik party. He was found dead at the entrance to a Moscow subway station. His face was just a bloody mess. It was impossible to recognize him. But all identity papers and money were untouched.
There have been a few demonstrations in Moscow and in a couple of other major cities, organized by anarchists and anti-fascists. They carried posters with text such as: "Fascists kill – authorities cover up!" and "For the authorities, fascism is a hoax!" The special forces, OMON, beat the protesters with clubs and arrested them. The furious youths smashed the windows of McDonald's and the chandeliers on the subway. At the police station, the protesters were reminded of the fate of Anton Stradymov and were advised that if they did not want the same thing to happen to them, they had to stop demonstrating.
On Russian television, there was only a summary report of the murder of the lawyer and the journalist, as if these two rights activists and anti-fascists had died in a normal traffic accident. No government officials have expressed condolences, neither President Medvedev, Prime Minister Putin nor anyone further down the system. To them, these killings are presumably ordinary criminal incidents in a criminal country. They are the ones who have turned Russia into a huge criminal camp, an area ravaged by corruption and lawlessness. They are the culprits.
Translated by Irina A. Waage and Peter Normann Waage.
Natalia Novozhilova is a journalist at the newspaper Tomiks, in Vladimir, Russia, and in 2007 was awarded the Freedom of Expression Prize for Fritt Ord. She writes exclusively for Ny Tid.
