Legal News

Human Rights Lawyer Murdered in Moscow

By Dan Slater

“Human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov told reporters Monday he would use all legal means to overturn the early release of the most senior Russian military officer ever convicted of war crimes in Chechnya. After walking out of the news conference, he was shot dead. A journalist with him was also killed.”

That’s the lead to a story today by the WSJ’s Moscow correspondent, Andrew Osborn. He reports that Markelov, the 34 year-old lawyer, had been representing the family of an 18-year-old Chechen girl who was strangled to death in 2000 by Col. Yuri Budanov. Budanov was found guilty of the murder in 2003 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, including time served. On Thursday, he was released for good behavior, 1½ years early.

Yesterday, Markelov said that Budanov had been let go illegally. He said he would challenge the release and appeal to an international court if necessary.

Police and witnesses told state TV a masked gunman approached Markelov from behind in a downtown Moscow street and shot him at point-blank range in the back of the head. He died on the spot. A freelance journalist, Anastasia Baburova, was walking beside him and, according to some accounts, tried to detain the gunman. She was shot in the head and died later.

A lawyer for Budanov, Alexei Dulimov, told a Russian radio station his client had nothing to do with Monday’s murders.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 20, 2009 (boomark / email).