Budanov's advocate: colonel was not involved in Markelov's murder

Former Budanov's advocate Alexei Dulimov, who defended his interests in the court of the cassation instance, has stated that Colonel Yuri Budanov has nothing to do with the murder of Stanislav Markelov, advocate of the Kungaev family.

"This case is absolutely atypical for saying about any involvement of Budanov or other militaries to the actions like what was done with Markelov. Let the bodies of preliminary investigation think of who the beneficiary is, what the sense was for anybody; let them look into other Markelov's cases, and then seek for the roots of all this evil," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Mr Dulimov as saying.

Budanov's advocate has emphasized that his client had never wished to take revenge on Kungaevs, furthermore, on their advocate, "who is representing legitimate interests in that understanding of legality as the Kungaevs believe."

Yuri Budanov himself has also stated that he has nothing to do with the murder. "What do I need it for? What spoil have the casualties done to me? Nothing! I'm a human; and what has happened today in the centre of Moscow is not just a murder but also a tragedy for me. It is a mean and villainous provocation, to which I have no attitude," Budanov said in his telephone interview to the "Komsomolskaya Pravda".

On January 19, the Amnesty International called on the authorities of the Russian Federation to quickly and objectively investigate the advocate's murder. In the opinion of Nikola Darkwort, Director of the Amnesty International programme for Europe and Middle Asia, Markelov "was quite probably killed for his professional and courageous work on defending human rights."

The press service of the government of Chechnya has reported that President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has awarded advocate Stanislav Markelov with the medal "For Merits for the Chechen Republic" posthumously.

"Stanislav Markelov has proved himself as a fair and decent person, a citizen and a patriot with a principle civil stand. He exposed neo-Nazism and xenophobia. Stanislav has lived a worthy life and perished for a just cause," the "Gazeta.ru" quotes Mr Kadyrov as saying.

In the meantime, the law enforcement bodies made an identikit of the person who shot Markelov dead and gravely wounded Baburova, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta" reports. The identikit was already distributed among all militia units.

Among possible versions of the murder, the Investigatory Committee under the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of Russia names the newest case of the lawyer - an attempt on journalist from Khimki Mikhail Beketov. There is another version - the trial now underway on Anna Politkovskaya's murder. The investigation does not also exclude that the murder van have to do with the fact that Markelov had very often represented the interests of antifascist and human rights organizations and took part in various conferences and mass protest actions.