In the evening of January 19, at the sixth anniversary of the murder of journalist of "Novaya Gazeta" Anastasia Baburova and lawyer Stanislav Markelov, about fifteen activists of "Autonomous Action (social-revolutionary)" laid flowers at the Eternal Flame.
As the participant of the event Alexander Nikiforov told to "7x7", laying of flowers was not publicly announced and pre-supposed as a few. For a discussion of the place and time of the meeting, activists used VKontakte. Despite the fact that only its direct participants knew about the action, anarcho-communists were waiting for Kirov representatives of law enforcement agencies at the approach to the Eternal Flame.
According to Alexander Nikiforov, "the government is trying to keep everything under control, even such peaceful activities as a sign of memory, due to the deteriorating economic situation in Russia, leftist ideas are in demand of population again, and increasing of protest activity is expected."
“Nastya and Stas gave their lives in the name of the struggle for justice, they hindered the development of the system of penalties in this totalitarian state,” activist of ADSR Nikolai Timofeev said. "Those people who killed them were grown by this system, because the spread of far-right ideas is so profitable to the state, to close people's eyes to the real problems. We must remember Nastya and Stas and all that they have done for us. We need to continue the fight".
Let us note that two actions in memory of Markelov and Baburova took place in Moscow. In the afternoon, representatives of liberal associations, LGBT, "Yabloko", human rights defenders organized a march from Novopushkinsky Square to Gololevsky Boulevard; they laid flowers at the scene of the murder of journalist and lawyer. In the evening, about 100 Moscow activists of anarcho-communist "red-black bloc" in conjunction with ADSR held a picket at the monument to Friedrich Engels.
“We in Kirov and our Moscow comrades didn’t do a mass event deliberately, as some so-called opposition, which are only in words, have turned this memorable date into their own PR. They have no relevance to anti-fascism. Often when it suits them they openly collaborate with neo-Nazis. We believe that January 19 is a day of remembrance, not a cheap PR. That’s why the Moscow rally was divided,” Nikolai Timofeev exemplified the reasons of the split.
January 19, 2009 the president of "Rule of Law Institute" Stanislav Markelov was killed on Prechistenka street in Moscow; at that time he was a lawyer of the Chechen family Kungaevy who were victims in the case of the now-deceased Russian army colonel Yuri Budanov. A freelance journalist of "Novaya Gazeta" Anastasia Baburova was wounded along with him; she died in intensive care later, without regaining consciousness. In late 2009, activists of the "Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists" Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis were arrested on charges of the crime. The court found them guilty. Tikhonov got a life sentence, Khasis — 18 years in prison. Since 2010, the anti-fascist associations’ activists spend Memorial Day of Baburova and Markelov on January 19 in Kirov, as well as in other Russian cities.
