On January 19th, 2009, well-known lawyer and activist Stanislav Markelov was shot dead in the street in Moscow, just after a press conference protesting the release of Colonel Budanov. Nastia Baburova, a young journalist and activist who was also killed in the shooting. Apart from being the lawyer of the Kungaev family (Col. Budanov’s victims), Stas Markelov defended in courts a lot of  antifas activists and victims of neo-nazis groups. Giving his activities, several possible origins for the crime were investigated. Two activists from extreme right milieu were arrested in november 2009. in April 2011, a popular jury sentenced  Nikita Tikhonov to life imprisonment while his accomplice Evgenya Khais  received 18 years, some possible other accomplices remaining unfound.

Meetings and demonstrations in Moscow and in several Russian cities have been since organized to mark the anniversary of the killing and at the same time mobilize antifa activists, human rights defenders against extreme right and racist violence .

An appeal from the January 19 committee