
Front Line is deeply concerned following information received regarding the assassination of Russian human rights lawyer, Mr Stanislav Markelov, on 19 January 2009. Stanislav Markelov was the lawyer for the family of Elsa Kungayeva, an 18 year-old Chechen girl who was allegedly abducted and killed in March 2000 by Russian army Colonel Yuri Budanov. Colonel Budanov was arrested in 2000, sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment three years later, but released on parole on 15 January 2009.