On January 19, the famous Moscow lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist and anarchist Anastasia Baburov were murdered in downtown Moscow. The murderer shot them with a pistol as they were leaving a press conference on the release of Colonel Yuri Budanov, who raped and murdered the Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva. Stas represented the family of the dead girl in this case. Stanislav defended the victims in such cases as the murders and kidnappings of civilians in Chechnya, and the murders of antifascists in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He also represented Mikhail Beketov, the journalist and defender of the Khimki Forest, who was brutally attacked. Recently, he had also been handling the case of Alexei Olesinov, who is still being held in pretrial detention on political charges.

Anastasia Baburova was a freelance journalist and active participant in various social and environmental movements. In her articles, she wrote about severe problems of Russian society as Nazism. She frequently took part in protest actions against the construction of refuse burning facilities, the persecution of political and social activists, and the eviction of people from dormitories.

There can be no doubt that Stas and Anastasia were murdered because of their active civic stances.

We want to know exactly who executed Stas and Nastya. But we have no illusions about the Russian state. Whoever is behind the crime, they are part of the authoritarian system in the country, part of the system of KGB officers and oligarchs who have practically crushed everyone who does not agree with their policies.

These are not the first political murders in recent years. Anna Politkovskaya, Ilya Borodaenko, Yuri Chervochkin, Magomed Yevloyev, Fyodor Filatov: the list goes on an on. We see no serious progress in any of these cases. The prosecutor’s office takes personal supervision of these cases and makes sure that the people who really ordered these crimes are not taken into custody.

Because this is the case, we demand, at a minimum the resignation of Interior Minister Nurgaliev and all his deputies! We demand an end to the persecution of social and political activists who oppose the current authorities! We demand real public control of the investigations of all such crimes!

We will never forget! We will never forgive!

On January 20, a memorial will take place at twelve noon at the site of Stanislav and Anastasia’s murders (Prechistenka, 1). Come with flowers, and bring your friends and people who share your views. In Moscow, after a daytime memorial at the site of Stas and Nastya’s murders, an evening memorial also took place that attracted mostly working youth and students, the core of the antifa movement.
More: http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/moscow-antifa-honor-the-memory...

On January 20, a memorial march will take place at 7.00 p.m. in Saint Petersburg. Marchers will meet at the Bukvoyed bookstore (Ligovsky Prospect, 10) and march to the Field of Mars. Marchers are asked to bring photographs, candles, and flowers.