His Excellency President Dmitry Medvedev
President of Russia
Moscow, Russia

26 January 2009

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our grave concern at the murder of journalist Anastasia Baburova and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov.

According to reports, on 19 January Mr Markelov, who had worked on many cases of human rights violations in Chechnya, and Ms Baburova, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, were shot as they left a press conference at the Independent Press Centre inMoscow. At the press conference, Mr Markelov had condemned the early release of Yuri Bodanov, a former colonel who was convicted in 2003 of murdering a young Chechen girl, whose family Mr Markelov was representing. Mr Markelov, who had also worked for Novaya Gazeta, had previously represented many independent journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in October 2006.

Mr Markelov, who had recently received death threats, was shot in the back of the head by a masked man as he walked towards a metro station. Ms Baburova was shot as she tried to prevent the killer from escaping.

We respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists and human rights defenders are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of intimidation. Such incidents foster a climate of fear that inhibits investigation and can promote self-censorship.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that the killer of Ms Baburova and Mr Markelov is quickly identified and brought to justice. We urge you to end the culture of impunity enjoyed by those who attack and kill journalists and to do everything possible to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

Xavier Vidal-Folch
President
World Editors Forum

cc Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.