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March in Memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova

16.02.2009   

Hundreds of people in Moscow attended a march on Sunday in memory of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, gunned down by a hired killer almost one month ago. People gathered at Journalist House at the beginning of Nikitsky Boulevard and marched to Novopushkinsky Square where a rally was heard.

Human rights defender Valery Barshchev spoke with a correspondent from Radio Svoboda about the event.

“It was an extremely important demonstration and act of protest. The murder of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova was a provocative, flagrant act, committed in the centre of the city. This murder is a challenge to all of us. It’s impossible to be silent. In good traditions, as in Europe, in such situations the authorities come to rallies together with representatives of the public.  The authorities, unfortunately, did not come, but several hundred people came out to express their protest and it’s very important that there were a lot of young people among them. It was a protest against the situation we have here at present, when you can calmly kill somebody in the city, when political murders are a reality and there’s no action countering them. We consider it out duty to express our protest.”

Marchers carried banners reading “Your silence excuses murders!”, “We remember Markelov and Baburova”.

The action was attended by well-known human rights defenders, journalists from independent publications, the leaders of the Yabloko Party, anarchists, Limonov supporters, members of the “Antifa” movement and hundreds of Muscovites.

There were riot police in coaches on both sides of the marchers, however they did not interfere. Moreover Ludmila Alexeeva from the Moscow Helsinki Group said that the police on this occasion had actually been helpful. The action in memory of Markelov and Barburova had originally been planned for last Sunday, but the Moscow authorities had not agreed it.  This time the organizers received the OK from the police and then took this to the Moscow authorities who authorized this Sunday’s gathering.

Based on a report at www.svoboda.org

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