Stanislav Yuryevich Markelov (Станислав Юрьевич Маркелов, 1974-2009) was a Moscow human rights lawyer who represented victims of abuses in Chechnya, anti-fascist activists, and journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya. He represented the family of Elza Kungaeva, a young Chechen woman killed in 2000 by Russian army colonel Yuri Budanov.

On January 19, 2009, shortly after a press conference protesting Budanov’s early release from prison, Markelov was shot in the head on Prechistenka Street in central Moscow. Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, who was with him, was also shot and died later that day. In May 2011 nationalist Nikita Tikhonov was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life, and Yevgenia Khasis was convicted as an accomplice. Russian prosecutors later tied both to the Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists (BORO).

Sources

• Committee to Protect Journalists. “Anastasiya Baburova.” Journalists killed database, 2009.
• Committee to Protect Journalists. Anatomy of Injustice: The Unsolved Killings of Journalists in Russia. September 2009.

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.