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January 20, 2009

Prominent Russian Human Rights Attorney Assassinated
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In Russia, a prominent human rights lawyer was assassinated on Monday,
days after he protested the release of the highest-ranking Russian
officer convicted of atrocities in the Chechen war. The attorney,
Stanislav Markelov, was the director of the Rule of Law Institute, a
civil liberties group. He had represented many labor unions,
environmental groups and journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, who
was assassinated in 2006. A twenty-five-year-old journalist who was with
Markelov was also shot dead.



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