Front Line is deeply concerned following information received regarding the assassination of Russian human rights lawyer, Mr Stanislav Markelov, on 19 January 2009. Stanislav Markelov was the lawyer for the family of Elsa Kungayeva, an 18 year-old Chechen girl who was allegedly abducted and killed in March 2000 by Russian army Colonel Yuri Budanov. Colonel Budanov was arrested in 2000, sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment three years later, but released on parole on 15 January 2009.

Further Information

On 19 January 2009, at approximately 3 p.m., Stanislav Markelov was shot dead by an unknown gunman near the Kropotkinskaya metro station in Moscow. A freelance journalist, Anastasya Baburova, was also wounded in the attack and died a few hours later in hospital. Stanislav Markelov and Anastasya Baburova were shot near a building where they had just attended a press conference entitled "Unlawful release of Budanov: neglecting by court and direct advantage of militants: who to do next?", in which Markelov had told reporters that he planned to file an appeal with the International Court against the early release of Colonel Budanov. Stanislav Markelov had filed a complaint about the early release from prison of Colonel Budanov on parole on 15 January 2009 following an Ulyanovsk Regional Court decision in December 2008. The decision to release Colonel Budanov came after four appeals had already been rejected. It led to protests in Chechnya.

Colonel Budanov has become a symbol of human rights abuses perpetrated by federal forces against Chechen civilians, and an icon for Russian nationalists. Stanislav Markelov had also represented human rights defenders who have opposed human rights violations perpetrated by Russia's military, and a Chechen woman who was the victim of an attack on a Moscow theatre in which hostages were taken in 2002. According to information received, Stanislav Markelov constantly received telephone calls and text messages in which he was threatened with death.

Front Line believes that Stanislav Markelov was killed because of his peaceful and legitimate human rights work, in the defence of victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya.