Russia: 2 suspects in lawyer, journalist killings

By LYNN BERRY Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian investigators said Thursday they have detained two suspects in the killings of a human rights lawyer and a journalist who were shot in central Moscow in January.

Stanislav Markelov, 34, and Anastasia Baburova, 25, were shot after leaving a news conference in a brazen attack by a lone gunman wearing a stocking-style mask.

Two suspects were detained this week, said Vladimir Markin, spokesman for federal investigators. He identified them as Yevgenia Khasis and Nikita Tikhonov, both Moscow natives in their 20s.

Investigators were still firming up their evidence against the man and woman, who would undergo psychiatric examinations, the spokesman said.

A city court was to rule Thursday on investigators' request to hold the two suspects, city courts spokeswoman Anna Usachyova said.

No further information was immediately available about the pair or the roles they are accused of playing in the killings.

Russia has seen a string of contract-style killings of human rights workers and journalists in recent years. Few of the killings are ever solved. In the rare case when people suspected of taking part in a killing are brought to trial, the mastermind is rarely identified.

The news agency Interfax, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the suspects were former members of an extreme nationalist group.

Markelov had angered nationalists through his work. In 2004, around the time he was representing victims of beatings by extreme nationalists, he himself was beaten in Moscow and later received further threats from skinheads.

Around the time of his death he was representing the family of a Chechen teenager killed in 2000 by a Russian officer, Col. Yuri Budanov, who had won early release from prison. Markelov was working to put Budanov back behind bars. The officer had become a hero to nationalists during his trial.

But the wide array of contentious cases handled by Markelov, who was the initial target of the attack, has provided ample room for speculation on a motive.