A Russian defence lawyer famous for his work in one of Russia's most infamous criminal cases was shot dead in central Moscow this afternoon. Stanislav Markelov was shot close to the Kremlin by a man using a pistol with a silencer. Before escaping, his assassin also shot and seriously wounded two women walking with the lawyer.One of them was Anastasiya Baburova, who worked as a reporter for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. She is in critical condition, according to doctors. The reporter is a former colleague of Anna Politkovskaya, the campaigning journalist and Kremlin critic who was shot dead in Moscow in 2006.
Markelov was one of Russia's best known human rights lawyers. He had represented the family of an 18-year-old Chechen woman who was savagely raped and murdered in 2000 by a former Russian army colonel.
Yuri Budanov snatched Kheda Kungayeva from her father's house during a late-night raid in 2000, killed her inside his tent, and then ordered his subordinates to secretly bury her body. He was convicted of murder in 2003 – despite claiming he had gone temporarily insane at the time of her killing and had mistaken her for a sniper. Budanov was released from prison last week, 18 months early. The case prompted widespread outrage in Chechnya, with news of his release sparking protests across the southern Russian republic.
Human rights activists said they were appalled by news of Markelov's killing. Baburova had written about the Kungayeva case extensively for her newspaper, colleagues said. "I find it hard to speak. I know and have worked with this person," said Lyudmilla Alexeyeva, head of the Russian human rights organisation Memorial. "The assassination of such a person brings shame to our country."