ONE of Russia's most prominent human rights lawyers was gunned down on a Moscow street yesterday in an assassination only half a mile from the Kremlin.
Stanislav Markelov acted for the family of 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva, whose murder in 2000 became a symbol of human rights abuses in the war-ravaged region of Chechnya.
Mr Markelov, 34, had led legal attempts to block the early release of a Russi
an colonel, Yuri Budanov, who was convicted of her murder.
"This is a horrible, frightening crime," said Tatyana Lokshina, of Human Rights Watch.
She compared it to the killing in 2006 of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a client of Mr Markelov's who also fought rights abuses in Chechnya and around Russia.
Mr Markelov, 34, was shot dead just after he held a news conference, said Viktoria Tsyplenkova, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee of the Moscow prosecutor's office.
Mr Markelov had told reporters he was considering filing an international court appeal against the early release of Budanov, who was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to ten years – including time served – for strangling Heda Kungayeva, 18, in 2000. He admitted killing her, saying he believed she was a Chechen insurgent sniper.
Mr Markelov represented the girl's family.
Andrei Lipsky, a deputy editor of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said a freelance journalist, Anastasia Baburova, who had written for the paper, was also killed. She was shot in the head as she tried to intervene after Mr Markelov was hit.
Budanov was freed last week with more than a year left on his murder sentence. His case was closely watched as a test of authorities' determination to punish rights abuses in Chechnya.
The release drew criticism from rights activists and lawyers, who pointed out that inmates convicted of non-violent crimes but considered Kremlin foes – including the former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky – had been refused early release.
Mr Markelov had also represented activists who had battled abuses by Russia's military, and a Chechen woman who was a victim in a hostage-taking attack on a Moscow theatre in 2002.
"He was always on the front line," said Alexander Cherkasov, of the human rights organisation Memorial.
Mr Cherkasov said that Mr Markelov was instrumental in another case involving alleged atrocities by the Russian military in Chechnya – the 2005 conviction of a police officer, Sergei Lapin, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the torture and "disappearance" of a young Chechen man.
In 2004, he claimed he was beaten unconscious on the Moscow metro and had papers relating to the Politkovskaya case stolen.
"For victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya, he was a hero," Ms Lokshina said.
"When one needed a bold journalist one called Politkovskaya, when one needed a bold lawyer one called Markelov," said Lev Ponomaryov, a Kremlin critic and rights activist.
