Campaigning Russian lawyer murdered in street

A lawyer who opposed the early release of a Russian colonel convicted of killing a Chechen woman was shot dead after a press conference in central Moscow today.

A journalist was also wounded in the attack by an unknown gunman, who escaped after murdering lawyer Stanislav Markelov.

Mr Markelov had just told reporters he was considering an international court appeal against the early release of Col. Yuri Budanov from prison last week.

Mr Markelov had also represented murdered Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who had written extensively about human rights violations in Chechnya. In addition, he worked for activists who battled abuses by Russia’s military, and represented a Chechen woman who was a victim in a 2002 hostage-taking attack on a Moscow theatre.

Mr Markelov was gunned down near a central Moscow building where he had just finished the news conference.

The deputy editor of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Andrei Lipsky, said freelance Anastasia Baburova was hit when she tried to intervene after Mr Markelov was shot.

Budanov was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 10 years for murdering 18-year-old Heda Kungayeva by strangling her after believing she was a rebel sniper.

His case had been closely watched as a test of authorities’ determination to deal with rights abuses in Chechnya.