MOSCOW – A Russian human rights lawyer renowned for his work on abuses in Chechnya was shot to death Monday by a masked gunman who followed him from a news conference. A young journalist who tried to intervene also was shot.
Murder
The broad-daylight shootings of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova prompted grief and outrage in a country where lawyers and journalists who challenge the official version of justice are frequently targeted.
Colleagues drew comparisons with the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya — a client of Markelov’s and a fellow enemy of rights abuses in Chechnya and across former President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Markelov, 34, was shot near a building where he had just held a news conference, about half a mile (1 kilometer) from the Kremlin.
Markelov was shot in the back of the head at close range by an attacker who followed him after the news conference, wore a stocking-style mask and had a silencer on his gun — clear signs of a planned killing, state-run RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Fatal intervention
(Specifics of russian national mentality would not let person stay cowardly passive toward unknown offenders in the street)
Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist in her mid-20s who had worked for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was shot when she tried to intervene after Markelov was attacked. Another Novaya Gazeta editor, Sergei Sokolov, later said she died on an operating table.
Markelov, who represented the family of the 18-year-old Chechen woman killed by Col. Yuri Budanov in 2000, had told reporters he was considering filing an international court appeal against Budanov’s early release, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Freedom of speech in Russia
Russia is considered to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work.
The situation gained worldwide attention two years ago after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a reporter who was fatally gunned down while investigating the victims of the Russian war in Chechnya.
The Glastnost Defense Foundation, which provides legal support to the media in Russia, estimates that more than 220 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1991.
Of those deaths, only six have been «properly investigated,» according to the foundation. «They don’t think journalists are really useful in this country,» said the foundation’s president Alexei Simonov, referring to Russian authorities. «Sometimes they even think they’re worse than useless.»
Russia–Ukraine gas debates refer to a number of argues between Russian state-controlled gas supplier Gazprom and Ukraine over natural gas supplies, prices and debts. The disputes have threatened natural gas supplies in numerous European countries that depend on Russian natural gas.
A serious disagreement started in March 2005 over the natural gas and transit prices. It culminated on 1 January 2006 in cutting gas supplies to Ukraine. The situation calmed on 4 January 2006 when supply was restored. Another gas dispute arose in October 2007 over gas debts and culminated in the gas supplies reduction in March 2008. During the last months of 2008 relations between Gazprom and Ukraine again became tense because of a fight over the size of debts owned by Ukraine.
In January 2009, the disagreement resulted in 18 European countries reporting major falls or cut-offs of gas supplies from Ukrainian pipelines carrying Gazprom gas.
Die Ukraine stiehlt das russische Gas/Украина ворует русский газ
Украина ведет несанкционированный отбор российского газа, идущего по украинским магистральным трубопроводам на экспорт в Европу. Об этом заявил официальный представитель «Газпрома» Сергей Куприянов. «Украинская сторона открыто признает, что ворует газ, и этого не стесняется», — сказал он на пресс-конференции в Москве. За несколько дней Европа недополучила более 60 миллионов кубометров газа. Поэтому «Газпром» принял накануне решение, что сократит объем поставок газа на границу Украины и России на этот объем. Глава газового концерна Алексей Миллер подчеркнул, что с каждым днем Украина ворует все больше российского газа, который идет транзитом в Европу.
*** One of middle-class Austrians told me that many of rich Vienna people have villas in Meidling, so inspired by class feeling the rest of population decifer Meidling car code as «Mega-Depp», what means big idiots. Some of rich Russians have also property there.
Looking through tons of amateur Russian videos, I found interview with journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and realized instantly why she was killed two years ago.
Murder of Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist and human rights activist was well known for her opposition to the Chechnya conflict and to Vladimir Putin.
On October 7, 2006, Putin’s birthday, Politkovskaya was found shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow. Makarov pistol and four shell casings were found beside her body. She was shot four times, once in the head.
Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko
A week after the assassination, former KGB-officer and writer Alexander Litvinenko accused Putin of sanctioning the murder. Two weeks after this statement, Litvinenko was poisoned by the radioactive polonium.
Death of Yuri Shchekochikhin
Journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin, whom I knew in person, when I lived in Moscow, and who used to write about organized crime and corruption, which involved high-rank FSB officers, was poisoned in 2003 – just a few days before his planned departure to the US where he planned to meet with FBI investigators.
In December 2005, while attending a conference of Reporters Without Borders in Vienna, Anna Politkovskaya said: «People sometimes pay with their lives for saying aloud what they think”
The Committee to Protect Journalists has kept track of the number of Russian journalists killed since Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.
According to CPJ research, Russia is the third deadliest country in the world for journalists over the past 15 years, behind only the conflict-ridden countries of Iraq and Algeria. A total of 47 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992, with the vast majority of killings unsolved.
