Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STATE5556
2009-01-21 23:12:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Secretary of State
Cable title:
OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ABOUT MURDERS
how-toVZCZCXRO1949 PP RUEHAST RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR DE RUEHC #5556 0212320 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P R 212312Z JAN 09 FM SECSTATE WASHDC TO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 7241 INFO ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS STATE 005556
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE RS KDEM
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ABOUT MURDERS
OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
UNCLAS STATE 005556
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE RS KDEM
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ABOUT MURDERS
OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
1. (U) Post is authorized to present the following statement
at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on January 22.
Begin text:
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman,
The United States was shocked and saddened by two recent and
brazen murders of human rights defenders in Russia. On
January 19, Stanislav Markelov, director of the Rule of Law
Institute in Moscow, and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist
with the Novaya Gazeta, were murdered in broad daylight in
central Moscow. An attorney who spent the better part of the
decade pursuing human rights and social justice cases,
Markelov had represented Anna Politkovskaya prior to her
death in 2006. The murders occurred minutes after Markelov
announced at a press conference that he would continue to
fight the early release from prison of Yuri Budanov, a former
Russian tank commander who was convicted in July 2005 of
strangling an 18-year-old Chechen woman in 2000. With Ms.
Baburova,s death, Novaya Gazeta has lost four reporters to
murder or other mysterious circumstances since 2000.
We would welcome an initiative by Russia to report to the
Permanent Council on the status of their investigations and
their efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of these
crimes, which unfortunately are not isolated cases. If left
without justice, the killings of journalists and human rights
activists have a chilling effect on freedom and respect for
the rule of law in a society.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
End Text.
CLINTON
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE RS KDEM
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ABOUT MURDERS
OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
1. (U) Post is authorized to present the following statement
at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on January 22.
Begin text:
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman,
The United States was shocked and saddened by two recent and
brazen murders of human rights defenders in Russia. On
January 19, Stanislav Markelov, director of the Rule of Law
Institute in Moscow, and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist
with the Novaya Gazeta, were murdered in broad daylight in
central Moscow. An attorney who spent the better part of the
decade pursuing human rights and social justice cases,
Markelov had represented Anna Politkovskaya prior to her
death in 2006. The murders occurred minutes after Markelov
announced at a press conference that he would continue to
fight the early release from prison of Yuri Budanov, a former
Russian tank commander who was convicted in July 2005 of
strangling an 18-year-old Chechen woman in 2000. With Ms.
Baburova,s death, Novaya Gazeta has lost four reporters to
murder or other mysterious circumstances since 2000.
We would welcome an initiative by Russia to report to the
Permanent Council on the status of their investigations and
their efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of these
crimes, which unfortunately are not isolated cases. If left
without justice, the killings of journalists and human rights
activists have a chilling effect on freedom and respect for
the rule of law in a society.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
End Text.
CLINTON