ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS FOR THE MARKELOV MURDER: Going Beyond the Mainstream Media’s Agenda

By Gordon M. Hahn

On January 19, civil rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya gazeta journalist Anastasia Buburova were gunned down in broad daylight in the center of Moscow.  Mr. Markelov leaves behind two children two-years and four-years old.  Ms. Buburova does not appear to have been a target; she may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was expected that U.S. mainstream media will use this tragedy for political purposes, to blame Russian leadership for these murders without considering the evidence or the alternative scenarios.

The Washington Post immediately implicated Putin in the murders in an editorial titled “More Moscow Murder: Two critics of Vladimir Putin take bullets in the head.”  The Post attempted to cover for itself by tucking at the end a disclaimer: “It is possible that Mr. Putin and his security services had nothing to do with any of these murders.”

Although it is possible that elements inside the state were involved, the mainstream media’s inordinate focus on blaming these murders on the Kremlin and Putin personally, means alternative explanations and prospective suspects will largely be ignored by our media. 

Can the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other U.S. and Western outlets refrain jumping to politically motivated conclusions in their reporting and editorials?  Unlikely.

What are the other possible versions of this tragic event?  Who might be perpetrators?

The first alternative version being bandied about is that the murder was connected with Markelov’s legal work against Col. Yurii Budanov who was convicted for the willful murder and rape of a Chechen woman during the second Chechen war.  Earlier this week, Budanov was released from prison on early parole a year before the end of his all too short sentence.  Markelov, the lawyer of Budanov’s victim, was challenging the parole as an unjustifiable.  Budanov and his supporters would have little to benefit from committing the murder.  Izvestia reported that Markelov’s law firm discounts this motive. This version, just as the Russian leadership theory, seems unlikely, but cannot be excluded entirely.

Izvestia suggested another motive could have been Markelov’s possible knowledge of who might have ordered Anna Politkovskaya’s murder.  Markelov worked on several cases with Politkovskaya and had been in Chechnya where he may have found out who ordered the Novaya gazeta journalist’s killing.

Another potential suspect might be neo-Nazis.  Leader of the liberal Republican Party Vladimir Ryzhov stated that Markelov had recently received threats from neo-Nazis. (See “Murdered Russian lawyer received threats from skinheads, says opposition figure,” BBC Monitoring, 20 January 2009 citing Ren TV, Moscow, 13:30 GMT, 20 January 2009.) Markelov often defended anti-fascists and was attacked by skinheads in April 2004.

Another version has the police as suspect.  In April 2008 local police clashed with and brutally beat five youths in Moscow’s Sokolniki district.  A case was opened against the policemen, and Markelov was lawyer for one of the plaintiffs.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Russian language service focused most of its attention on a possible Chechen connection, involving Chechnya’s pro-Moscow president Ramzan Kadyrov.  It is not surprising that this generally anti-Putin media outlet would focus on someone as close to Putin as it could find.  According to this version, which certainly is feasible, Markelov was investigating the abduction (in Chechenya) of Mokhmadsalakh Mosaev, who had given an interview to Novaya gazeta describing being held in one of Kadyorov’s alleged personal jails.  Mosaev was then abducted and has not been found.  The implication here is that Kadyrov or people in his inner circle could be behind the Markelov’s murder as well as Mosaev’s disappearance.   Svobodanews.ru quoted Novaya gazeta journalist Vyacheslav Izmailov urging greatest attention be given to this Chechen connection. However Kadyrov recently came out in opposition to Budanov’s release, so he would have limited interest in killing the lawyer challenging the release. 

Svobodanews.ru also referred briefly to the Budanov scenario and another of Markelov’s legal cases involving the beating into a coma of Mikhail Beketov, the chief editor of the newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda, which uses most of its ink for environmental causes, especially the protection of the Khimkinskii Forest.

In sum, there are many possible versions of this event, and at this early stage they should all be in play as far as objective observers are concerned.  However, none of these scenarios points to Putin, contrary to the Washington Post’s hasty accusations. Several high-ranking Duma deputies have condemned the crime.  However, a strong statement from the Kremlin condemning these heinous crimes is in order – and a demand for an objective investigation and aggressive pursuit of those who ordered and perpetrated these crimes.

Dr. Gordon M. Hahn – Analyst/Consultant, Russia Other Points of View – Russia Media Watch; Senior Researcher, Monterey Terrorism Research and Education Program and Visiting Assistant Professor, Graduate School of International Policy Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California; and Senior Researcher, Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS), Akribis Group. Dr Hahn is author of two well-received books, Russia’s Islamic Threat (Yale University Press, 2007) and Russia’s Revolution From Above (Transaction, 2002), and numerous articles on Russian and Eurasian politics.

Comments

[Will Gardella]

The prospect that Russia remains an environment in which these assassinations can occur with impunity is, in its own way, just as damning an indictment of Russian criminal justice as an extrajudicial killing ordered by the government. I agree that an "objective investigation and aggressive pursuit" is necessary, both in the interests of justice and the reputation of the government, but it is far more likely that this investigation will be just as ineffective as those of other high-profile criminal cases.

Even if Putin is in no way responsible, the murders will probably still have a chilling effect on the media and on lawyers with practices similar to Markelov's. The whole thing will stink until the taint can be removed by a credible criminal conviction, and that sort of thing seems to be beyond the Procuratorate-General and Russian investigators these days.

[Michael Averko]

Such is the English language mass media situation.

Uncovering the Slanted Coverage of Russia
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/80759

For accuracy and decency sake, much can and should be done to balance the coverage. This includes some changes with venues like the Valdai Discussion Club, Russia Today and the World Russian Forum.

[Will Gardella]

Michael, the article you cited is accurate as far as it goes--Georgia bears the lion's share of the responsibility for the war over South Ossetia and American coverage of it and all the Russian political events have been gravely slanted--but that doesn't contradict anything I pointed out. The Russian criminal justice system remains woefully unprepared to deal with these highly professional, politically motivated murders (no matter who may be responsible for them). If murderers conduct themselves more professionally than detectives and prosecutors, the Russian government stands little chance of clearing its name as far as global public opinion is concerned.

[Michael Averko]

Will, do you see any improvements in the Russian legal system over the course of the past several years? There's no disagreement that it can and should be significantly improved upon.

Without meaning to get off topic, I keep in mind the number of unsolved murder cases in countries deemed as more advanced than Russia, when it comes to human rights. Related to this point is Russia's murder rate in comparison to other countries. This matter goes beyond just the legal situation. The socioeconomic ills of a given society can be quite burdensome for the most well meaning of legal systems.

I'm reminded of this piece:

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=17074&IBLOCK_ID=35

The at times faulty English language mass media reporting and commentary enhances some misconceived notions about Russian issues. Vis-a-vis Markelov's murder, this thought pertains to the article above our exchange on how some have jumped to believing certain otherwise questionable views.

[Will Gardella]

"Will, do you see any improvements in the Russian legal system over the course of the past several years?"

Not terribly many. To the government's credit, it's prevailed in a few large tax cases, but it seems rather uninterested in improving the enforcement of criminal law otherwise.

"There's no disagreement that it can and should be significantly improved upon."

If there's no disagreement on this point, then why is the government instead busy passing laws on the media and not expanding the right to a jury trial beyond the small number of cases and courts where the EU and other institutions are paying to implement this? Why does it still rely largely on a conscript militia system of policing that virtually ensures both incompetence and the inclusion of corrupt elements in law enforcement?

On the contrary, I think the quality of the legal system is largely ignored aside from the occasional Medvedev speech about legal nihilism and the occasional dead lawyer.

"I'm reminded of this piece:"

The text of the article, arguing for an organized effort on the part of the CPJ to act as an "obedient tool of the US government," overplays the CPJ figures attached to the article. From those, it looks like countries like Pakistan (a US ally) and Colombia (another US ally) come in for the worst treatment by the CPJ. And probably rightly so--it makes sense that countries where many actors have an interest in silencing journalists have a bigger problem with that.

Besides, the eXile has gone downhill ever since the authorities took note of it and went after Mark Ames. See, I can play this silly, baseless game too!

"The at times faulty English language mass media reporting and commentary enhances some misconceived notions about Russian issues. Vis-a-vis Markelov's murder, this thought pertains to the article above our exchange on how some have jumped to believing certain otherwise questionable views."

Exactly. The point is perception. I am by no means saying that it's particularly likely that either Markelov or Burburova were on some kind of FSB hit list, because I don't think Russia's leaders are that stupid. However, they can be remarkably tone-deaf about the perception (baseless or not) that state media consolidation and the deaths of journalists, human rights lawyers, and other independent voices are part of an organized effort to stifle opposition.

At least these deaths, unlike the death of Politkovskaya, weren't followed by Putin commenting that the victims are insignificant!

[Will Gardella]

One of the articles cited by the eXile piece seems to make my precise point:

http://www.cjes.ru/about/?pid=4&id=2699&PHPSESSID=610ab996168aae309989f7edbfc56c08

"What politicizes the issue is not the actual number of slain journalists, but the failure of authorities to thoroughly investigate the deaths, said Dmitry Badovsky, a political analyst with the Institute of Social Systems at Moscow State University.

"Journalists do not necessarily die because the regime in Russia is bad and oppressive," he said.

"Also," said Alexei Simonov, head of Glasnost Defense Foundation, "do not forget that investigations into these murders last for years and often depend upon politics."

Exactly. Michael, you have a valid point about the socioeconomic challenges facing the Russian criminal justice system, including underfunding, but Russia's consistent--and deserved, and sought-after--place on the world stage as a key geopolitical country makes the failings of its police and judiciary far more visible than, say, the probably even more broken systems in countries like Mexico or Colombia or Pakistan. Those countries simply get less Western coverage in general, so the ills of their legal system and the dangers to journalists are less highlighted.

Negative press when justice is deferred or delayed is a natural consequence of the media exposure and diplomatic clout that the Russian executive branch sees as so important to the country's future, and too often, the pace of change in the legal system is far too slow to keep up with this.

[Michael Averko]

Some ground covered since I last checked.

I've heard much the same on the tax aspect of the Russian legal system.

There has been an effort to make the Russian armed forces a more volunteer based one. A prevailing problem has been impressing prospective recruits. At last notice (offhand, I'd have to check for updated matter on the subject), I was given the impression that the Russian armed forces has become a more volunteer based entity.

I recall a GPA CIS... piece suggesting that eXile's demise might've involved at least one other factor not advertised. Based on what's been said, I think their might be more to that particular story. Keep in mind that periodically not everything is always told about such situations.

On another and perhaps even somewhat related note (gotta be careful), you might recall an eXile piece where it's said that some media outlets claim a certain kind of victimization after their funding dries up (next to last paragraph):

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=7701&IBLOCK_ID=35

To digress a bit further, recall the reason Scarface (Al Pacino) gave for leaving Cuba. This isn't mentioned to belittle actual circumstances of heavy handed and mild persecution. I'm respectfully suggesting that often enough the whole story isn't told.

Whatever faults can be claimed of eXile, I've found a good deal of its commentary to be quite worthy. This is said in reply to AU's suggestive likeness (at JRL) of eXile to the anonymous and IMO bigoted LR.

Here's a very recent example of someone rhetorically shooting the negative gun at Russia on his/her seemingly instinctual biases:

http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@161.oSSpevRHVpS@.7760b692/1201

That particular individual reflects a certain way of viewing Russia in general:

http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@161.oSSpevRHVpS@.7760b692/1187

http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@161.oSSpevRHVpS@.7760b692/1169

[Michael Averko]

Pardon any gliche with my recently submitted comments.

I wanted to address one other point that was raised.

Exhibiting disrespect for the recently deceased is understandably not considered in good taste (some exemption is given to a select group of individuals deemed as extremely barbaric). That said and giving the benefit of doubt, Putin's referenced comments on Politkovskaya could've been different from what's suggested. People have been known to misspeak in terms of what they meant to say - or be taken out of context - whether by misunderstanding or intent.

I'm sure that those in disagreement with her work (at least the ones I'm aware of) agree that her murder isn't something to be taken lightly:

http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/2006-236-28.cfm

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ware.php?articleid=9891

http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/8220-15.cfm