Grigory Pasko: Tarnishing the Reputation of Russia’s Victims
As the newspaper «Izvestiya» recently reported, with a reference to its «own investigation», new, sensational details have been uncovered about the death of the lawyer Stanislav Markelov and the journalist Anastasia Baburova. In the opinion of the journalist Perekrest, who is already familiar to readers of our blog, the key to solving the crime may be not in the lawyer’s professional activity, but in his romantic connection with the murdered journalist.
In the opinion of the all-knowing and guessing-about-everything Perekrest, Markelov and Baburova were acquainted for a long time and had maintained the closest of relations. Citing the same kind of murky and unreliable sources as in his book about YUKOS and Khodorkovsky «What is Mikhail Khodorkovsky sitting for», Perekrest writes about how Markelov,«a famous and respected person firmly standing on his feet, took care, as well as he could, of the young journalist, who was younger than him by ten years». He recalls that on a recent journey beyond the border, the lawyer slept next to the journalist in a sports hall, where the organizers of one of the seminars had lodged the participants of the journey (see photo).
Further on, the «investigator» mentions about the presence of «acertain youth from the milieu of radicals-informals, who had manifesteda certain interest towards Nastya». From this are made allusions thatthis youth-radical could have killed Markelov, and then Baburova aswell. In so doing, the author of the article seems to forget about thereports of representatives of the law-enforcement organs about how thekiller had been a well prepared specialist, which doesn’t sound at alllike a youth from the radicals-informals.
Why does the newspaper «Izvestiya» need such a salacious and dubiousstory? Could it only be because with the arrival there of a neweditor-in-chief, the newspaper from a respected and serious one hasstarted to transform into a yellow one?
I think that the publications of the «perekrests» are not at allaccidental – both in the event of the promulgation of openly contrivedinformation about the activity of employees of the company YUKOS, andin the event of the murder of the lawyer and the journalist.
It is noteworthy that Perekrest’s hypothesis coincides with thehypothesis of the MVD of Russia, which has pleaded for this murder notto be regarded as political. Need it even be mentioned that thishypothesis, in its turn, corresponds with the hypothesis of theinvestigative administration of Moscow, the chief of which has alreadysaid that along with a hypothesis about the professional activity ofthe lawyer is also being examined a hypothesis of personal enmity.
The personal enmity of a youth-radical – indeed, this is a moreconvenient hypothesis for the powers than a contract political murder.
Photo: With these photos the newspaper «Izvestiya» accompanied the article of its correspondent.
