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Anastasia Baburova shot dead in Moscow

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Anastasia Baburova was shot dead in Moscow in broad daylight today along with Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov. Baburova was killed as she tried to intervene when Markelov was attacked. The freelance journalist in her mid-20's worked for Novaya Gazeta newspaper, the same newspaper as Anna Politkovskaya who was also shot dead in Moscow on 7 October, 2006,
A journalist who was shot along with a human rights lawyer on a Moscow street has died in hospital, a newspaper editor has said. Anastasia Baburova died on the operating table, hours after Monday's shooting, according to Novaya Gazeta editor Sergei Sokolov. Ms Baburova, a freelance journalist who worked for the paper, was shot when she reportedly tried to intervene after a gunman fatally shot lawyer Stanislav Markelov. Mr Markelov was fighting against the early release of a Russian colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman in 2000. He had also represented murdered anti-Putin journalist Anna Politkovskaya as well as Chechens and others who made allegations of abuse at the hands of Russian authorities. link
There a running total of journalists killed in Russia on Wikipedia. Baburova is the first journalist to have been killed in 2009. Arkady Babchenko, a journalist who also works for Novaya Gazeta won the Frontline Club Special Commendation Award for his coverage of the war in South Ossetia and Georgia.

UPDATE: 22 January
Surveillance cameras precorded the murders but investigators could not make out the killer's identity, Moscow Police Chief Vladimir Pronin told reporters, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported. "I can only state that it is a young man 180 centimeters (5 feet, 11 inches) high with a slim body build," Pronin said. "I can also state that there are no witnesses who saw the killer." link

1 Comment

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Onnik Krikorian | January 20, 2009 2:18 PM

Terrible, and on the second anniversary of Dink's murder in Istanbul as well.