On 19 January 2009, Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova were murdered in downtown Moscow. These killings rocked Russia, as it became clear that they were the latest in a campaign of unprecedented Neo-Nazi violence against migrant workers and anti-fascists. Markelov, a human rights lawyer, activist and anti-fascist, had, by that time, become a prominent public speaker on political repression and anti-fascism. Baburova was a young journalist with Novaya Gazeta, and involved in anarchist activism.
As part of oDR’s series of translations of texts by Stanislav Markelov, we present his reflections on the changing concept and status of political prisoners in Russia, the challenges that lawyers face in these cases, and the overall growth of terrorism offences, both real and fabricated, in the country since the late 1990s.
This article was presented by the author at the conference “Prison: research as a method of struggle (Russia and France, 1970s and 2000s)”, held in Paris, September 2006.
