Hundreds March in Memory of Markelov and Baburova in Moscow

January 19, 2013 saw a march in Moscow commemorating human rights attorney Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, who were shot and killed by a neo-Nazi in broad daylight as they left a press conference in central Moscow four years ago on the date.

As is now tradition, the event was organized by the January 19^th Committee, an informal and non-political association of social activists. Initially the organizers had planned to proceed from Tverskoy Boulevard to the Kropotkinskaya Metro stop, located on the block where Markelov and Baburova were murdered. Activists had planned to lay flowers at the site of their deaths. However, city authorities cut the route in half, ending the procession at Nikitskie Vorota – about two and a half kilometers from the memorial site.

Sova’s observers estimate that 600-700 people participated in the march. Among the participants were representatives of informal anti-fascist and leftist organizations, the Solidarity (Solidarnost) movement, the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), members of the LGBT community, and various human rights workers and social activists.

The action began at 2:30 pm on Tverskoy Boulevard. Participants formed columns and marched down the boulevard, chanting, “The main enemy of the country is the FSB and Center E!” “Patriarch Kirill Gundaev is the friend of thieves and scoundrels!” “For freedom! Against fascism!” “Alerta alerta antifascista!”, “Freedom for the prisoners of May 6!” “Stas and Nastya – eternal memory!” “Fascists kill, the authorities cover it up!” and “Down with fascism, homophobia, sexism!” Demonstrators carried portraits of murdered anti-fascist activists, as well as placards reading, “Fascism will not pass,” “For freedom against fascism,” “Our goal – no discrimination against migrants,” and “Our goal – no nationalists in politics.”

There were also posters on display in support of activists detained at the demonstrations held on May 6, 2012, the eve of Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency: “They want to put Kosenko in the looney bin, the hearing is January 23 – please support!” and “Witnesses to the events on Bolotnaya, help the May 6 Committee investigate.” Participants also collected money to help Konstantin Lebedev, a Russian Socialist Movement activist convicted of organizing mass riots in December 2012 based on accusations in a documentary aired on state television.

Yabloko party founder Grigory Yavlinsky attended the march, as did Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, Solidarity movement council member Ilya Yashin, and civic activist Sergei Mokhnatkin.

The convoy made a stop at the Yesenin monument on Tverskoy Boulevard, where march organizers spoke about the work done by Markelov and Baburova. They also stopped at 10 Tverskoy Boulevard, where they made a declaration about the unacceptability of discrimination. Near the interchange to Nikitsky Boulevard the march stopped, and as police blocked the road, an activist urged the march’s participants not to allow nationalists to come to power: “Every time Nazis come to power, it’s murder and repression; right now we’re seeing the same thing, yet without murders.”

At the end of the procession, at 12 Nikitsky Boulevard, participants rolled up their posters and flags and set off in small groups to the Gogol monument and to Prechistenka Street, the place of Markelov and Baburova’s murder, and laid flowers there.

No incidents were observed during the event.