The lawyer of the Kungaev family was killed

On January 19, Stanislav Markelov, the lawyer for the family of Elsa Kungaeva, who was killed by Yuri Budanov, was shot dead in Moscow. Shortly before this, he filed a complaint against the decision to release Budanov on parole. Markelov received a letter from Judge Alexander Dubov from the Dimitrovgrad court explaining the reasons for Budanov’s release on January 15, after the former colonel was released. On January 19, Markelov said that he could not call this letter an official document, since there was no stamp on it. The lawyer said that he sent a complaint to the Ulyanovsk Regional Court and also notified the Supreme Court. Markelov did not rule out that if all opportunities to appeal the decision to release Budanov are exhausted, he “will have to go to the international level.”

The head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee at the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, Anatoly Bagmet, said that Markelov was shot dead on Prechistenka. This happened immediately after a press conference at the Independent Press Center dedicated to the release of Budanov. According to the preliminary version, someone in a mask approached the lawyer and shot him in the head with a pistol with a silencer, Interfax reports. Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist from Novaya Gazeta, was next to Markelov at that moment; she tried to grab the shooter, and he shot at her too. She was taken to hospital with serious injuries, where she later died. In Novaya Gazeta she wrote, in particular, about Budanov.

A criminal case has been opened. Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika promised to take him under personal control.

Among those whose interests Markelov represented was the editor-in-chief of Khimkinskaya Pravda, Mikhail Beketov, who was recently the victim of a brutal attack, apparently because of harsh articles criticizing the city administration. Deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol believes that Markelov’s murder could be connected with Beketov. According to another version, Markelov could have been killed by neo-Nazis, since he, in particular, took part in the trials for the murder of anti-fascist Ilya Borodaenko, defended the interests of other anti-fascists, and neo-Nazis posted threats against him on the Internet.