Another Political Murder in Russia; Putin Unbound

Writing for Pajamas Media, Kim Zigfeld reports that yet another critic of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was attacked and brutally killed. Lawyer Stanislav Markelov was attacked by ‘unknown assailants’ several times, but survived them all. The last attack was more effective however; a gunman approached him from behind, put a gun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Markelov was dead before knowing what hit him. A young journalist who was walking with the lawyer ran after the assailant. She too was shot, and died a few hours later in the hospital.

Markelov’s sin? He was highly critical of Putin and of Russian soldiers guilty of torturing Chechen militants, civilians and torturing, raping and killing innocent Chechen women. Dissent is not allowed in Putin’s Russia, especially not ‘unpatriotic’ criticism. The army is holy in today’s Russia; those who dare criticize it or individual soldiers often pay for their courage with their lives.

On Monday morning January 19, 2009, for instance, Markelov gave a press conference in downtown Moscow, less than a mile from Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.

Markelov was speaking as the attorney for the family of 18-year-old Heda Kungayeva, a young Chechen girl who was kidnapped in March 2000 by Russian forces occupying the region, raped, and strangled. The ringleader in the attack, Russian Army Colonel Yuri Budanov, was tried and convicted five years ago and sent to prison on a ten-year stretch (but only after a trial the previous year had been set aside when Budanov beat the rap using a “temporary insanity” defense). To Markelov’s chagrin, on Thursday of the preceding week Budanov had been released on parole, having served only half his sentence. Markelov was far from alone: Even the Kremlin’s puppet ruler in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, was outraged by Budanov’s release.

Markelov, who had been shadowing the prosecution from the time Budanov first beat the rap, announced that the family intended to file legal proceedings to challenge the early release. He poured scorn on the decision, pointing out that oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky had been denied parole just a few months earlier even though his alleged financial crimes were far less serious.

Markelov then left the press conference and walked outside to his waiting vehicle. With him went a young journalism student named Anastasia Barburova, a stringer for Novaya Gazeta. Barburova had been covering the Budanov trial for the paper for some time.

Markelov never made it to his car. At around 2 pm Moscow time an assailant approached him from behind, pointed a silenced pistol at the back of his head, and pulled the trigger. Markelov died instantly, and the assailant attempted to flee. Barburova, heedless of her own safety, charged after the killer and was shot in the head for her trouble. She died in the emergency room several hours later.

Putin is rapidly developing into a strange leader; many feared he may have communist tendencies, this is not the case. Rather, he is a fierce nationalist, in favor of the free market (well, somewhat), and highly authoritarian. You could say that he is a man who believes in a political dictatorship with a reasonably free economy. It’s a strange, modern combination; China too is busily creating such a system.

Russia has a long history of brutal, authoritarian and murderous leaders. Katharina, Peter, Stalin; all are famous Russian leaders who have one thing in common – they killed on a massive scale. Russia was strong and powerful under their leadership, but the people were oppressed and lived in fear constantly.

Putin is not a communist, but he is a truly Russian leader; he’s only the last in a long line of authoritarian leaders, oppressing their own people and killing those who dare criticize them.