Stavropol's Ex-Mayor Denied Asylum

An Austrian court has ruled in favor of the extradition of former Stavropol Mayor Dmitry Kuzmin, who fled Russia in 2007 amid corruption charges and has requested political asylum in Austria.A local court in the Austrian town of Korneuburg ruled that Kuzmin can be extradited to Russia, where he faces charges of embezzlement and libel, Friedrich KЪhl, a spokesman for local prosecutors, told The Moscow Times by telephone Thursday.Kuzmin's lawyer immediately appealed Wednesday's ruling, and the case will now be sent to the Vienna Higher Court, KЪhl said.The criminal case against Kuzmin, which unfolded ahead of the State Duma elections in December 2007, has been called a smear campaign against a leader who had become too serious a threat in the Stavropol region to the pro-Kremlin party United Russia, whose election ticket was led by then-President Vladimir Putin. In March 2007, Kuzmin led A Just Russia, a center-left, pro-Kremlin party created in 2006, to a rare victory in regional parliamentary elections over United Russia and the political machine of United Russia and Alexander Chernogorov, then the governor of Stavropol.Kuzmin is one of dozens of mayors, the last directly elected officials in Russia, to face criminal prosecution in recent years.Kuzmin has applied for political asylum in Austria, and if his request is granted extradition would be unlikely, KЪhl said. He said, however, that questions of asylum are beyond the Austrian judiciary's competence. "He claims that he is being politically persecuted in Russia, but the court ruled that the question of asylum should not directly affect [Wednesday's ruling]," KЪhl said.The court also dismissed Kuzmin's claim that documents provided by Russian authorities were not sufficient to justify extradition. "The court decided that the international arrest warrant is quite enough," KЪhl said.In November 2007, just weeks before the Duma elections, Kuzmin was removed from A Just Russia's ticket over purported campaign violations.In a bizarre twist, a senior local police official announced during a televised news conference at the time that Nazi flags and medals had been found during a search of Kuzmin's office. The Nazi regalia were shown repeatedly on local television in the run-up to the elections.Kuzmin fled the country shortly before the Duma elections, and a Stavropol court subsequently stripped him of his office and sanctioned his arrest in absentia.Acting on an international arrest warrant, Austrian authorities in August detained Kuzmin at Vienna's Schwechat airport. He was later released on bail on the condition that he does not leave Austria, said KЪhl of the Korneuburg prosecutor's office.Following his arrest, the Investigative Committee issued a statement saying it would request Kuzmin's extradition. The politician has been charged on two counts of abuse of office, including the embezzlement of 19 million rubles ($807,000), as well as one count of libel, the committee said at the time. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Austria and Russia have both ratified a European extradition convention, greatly easing extraditions. It could take weeks, if not months, until a Vienna court hears Kuzmin's appeal of Wednesday's ruling, KЪhl said.Kuzmin's lawyer in Austria could not be reached for comment Thursday.Calls to the Stavropol branch of the Investigative Committee, which has been handling the case against Kuzmin, went unanswered Thursday. A woman who answered the phone at the committee's federal headquarters said no one was available to comment.

Slain Moscow Reporter Buried In Sevastopol

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- Anastasiya Baburova, who chased after the assassin of human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov only to be killed by the same unidentified gunman, was buried in her native Ukraine on Jan. 26.

Baburova, 25, was a Moscow journalist with one of Russia’s few remaining independent newspapers, Novaya Gazeta.She and Markelov were slain less than a mile from the Kremlin, just after the lawyer held a Jan. 19 press conference to condemn the early release from prison of a Russian army colonel convicted of killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman in 2000.Baburova was from Sevastopol.Agence France Presse reported that several dozen mourners attended the funeral Mass held in St. Vladimir Orthodox Cathedral in the center of the Crimean port city before she was laid to rest in a cemetery on the city’s outskirts.Her mother, Larysa Baburova, told the French news agency that her daughter a year ago had complained that her work was too dangerous, saying: “Mum, I am not going to live long like this.”Novaya Gazeta – one of the few Russian newspapers that allow criticism of the Kremlin in its coverage – has been hit by tragedy several times, including in 2006, when star journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in Moscow.If these murders follow the disturbing Russian pattern, no killers will be found.

Hundreds Remember Slain Lawyer

Hundreds of people carrying flowers and candles visited the blood-smeared spot on Tuesday in central Moscow where lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anastasia Baburova were slain, many expressing indignation with tears in their eyes. Markelov, 34, was shot dead Monday afternoon on Ulitsa Prechistenka after holding a news conference decrying the early release of former army Colonel Yury Budanov, who was serving 10 years for killing a Chechen woman, Elza Kungayeva, 18, in 2000. Markelov, who died at the scene, had represented Kungayeva's family. Baburova, 25, a freelance reporter for the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was shot in the head while trying to shield Markelov from the unidentified gunman, newspaper editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said. She was rushed to the hospital but died without regaining consciousness. Human rights activists, lawyers, students and ordinary civilians came to the cordoned-off crime scene near Kropotskinskaya metro station on Tuesday, laying flowers and flickering candles on the now-frozen bloodstains. Pictures of the two victims surrounded the makeshift memorial, and several anti-Kremlin posters were placed on a wall along the sidewalk. The black plastic sheet that had covered Markelov's body a day earlier and the stained gloves of crime scene investigators remained close to the scene. At noon, a Russian Orthodox priest held a memorial service at the site, stressing in his speech that Markelov and Baburova had died on the same day that the church celebrates the Epiphany. "I am deeply shocked by the crime," said Public Chamber member Alla Gerbert, who visited the site. "This is not the first attack against Markelov. He was once beaten up by skinheads on the train because of his work. "I don't think the murder was a act of provocation, but Budanov has lots of supporters," she added. Budanov, convicted in July 2005 for the murder of Kungayeva, walked free from an Ulyanovsk prison on Thursday, sparking outrage among the victim's family and senior Chechen officials. Budanov admits to killing Kungayeva but says he thought she was a sniper and had acted in a fit of rage during an interrogation. A court last month ordered him freed early for good behavior and time served in pretrial detention. Among Markelov's other clients were Khimkinskaya Pravda editor Mikhail Beketov, an anti-corruption campaigner who was gravely beaten in Khimki, just north of Moscow, in unclear circumstances last year; Chechen Yana Neserkhoyeva, a Nord-Ost hostage accused of helping terrorists in 2002; and Zelimkhan Murdalov, a kidnapped Grozny resident assisted by Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who herself was shot dead in central Moscow in 2006. Baburova, a night journalism student at Moscow State University, wrote many critical articles about fascism and human rights abuses. She will be buried in her hometown of Sevastopol, Novaya Gazeta editor Sokolov said. Her relatives arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, and the newspaper will help them transport the body to Sevastopol, Sokolov said. An anonymous new post appeared on Baburova's LiveJournal blog on Tuesday, reading, "Thanks to everyone for their sincerely condolences." Funeral arrangements for Markelov have not been decided yet. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov awarded Markelov posthumously with a medal for his "merits to the Chechen republic," the Chechen government reported on its official web site on Tuesday. Hundreds of people rallied in Grozny on Tuesday, calling for Markelov's killers to be brought to justice. Kungayeva's family, who live in asylum in Norway, have been taken under the protection of the Norwegian police, RIA-Novosti reported. Budanov called the killing "a provocation" in a telephone interview published in Komsomolskaya Pravda on Tuesday. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the slain lawyer and reporter. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on Tuesday under Crime Code Article 105 — the murder of two or more people — and Article 222 — the illegal acquisition and possession of guns. Investigators believe that the gunman was either a professional killer or an individual who disagreed with Markelov on his human rights views, the Investigative Committee said on its web site. They are considering the possibility that the reporter might have been purposely targeted by the gunman as well.

Prominent Russian lawyer killed

A top human rights lawyer who acted for the family of an 18-year-old Chechen woman murdered by a Russian army officer has been shot dead in Moscow.
Stanislav Markelov, who acted for the family of Kheda Kungayeva, was shot by an unknown man after a news conference in the centre of the Russian capital.
He expressed outrage after the officer, Yuri Budanov, was released last week.
Budanov was the first Russian officer to be prosecuted for killing a civilian during the conflict in Chechnya.
He confessed to strangling Ms Kungayeva in 2000, saying he had acted in a fit of rage while interrogating her, suspecting she was a sniper. He was subsequently jailed for 10 years.
Appeal
Mr Markelov was shot in the head with a pistol fitted with a silencer not far from the building where he had just held a news conference on the Kungayeva case, law enforcement officials said.
A journalist who was with him, who local media have named as Anastasia Baburova, was also badly wounded in the attack.
Investigators say that they are examining several possible theories as to the motive for Mr Markelov's killing, including the possibility that it was linked to his professional activities.
According to the Russian RIA-Novosti news agency, Mr Markelov had just told reporters that he planned to appeal against Budanov's early release.
The municipal court in Dimitrovgrad, where Budanov was serving his sentence, ruled in December that he should be freed early because he had repented his crime.
The decision led to protests in Chechnya attended by both human rights activists and representatives of the pro-Moscow authorities.
In an interview with the BBC's Russian Service a few days ago, Mr Markelov said the decision to release Budanov showed that the Russian system was deeply flawed.
"I understand now that there is no rule of law," he said.
"My task now is to find out who gave the order for Budanov to be released, and to present a criminal case to the chief prosecutor in order to find out who is guilty of breaching their legal authority."
Chechnya has been devastated by heavy fighting since 1994, when Russian troops first poured in to crush a separatist movement.

Power, Politics Fuels Ukraine-Russia War

MOSCOW, Russia -- More than a week after Russia halted natural gas shipments to Europe through Ukraine, about one-fifth of Europe's supplies remains hostage to a conflict that goes far beyond energy prices.
While the dispute has commercial roots, it is revealing itself increasingly to be a political struggle rooted in Ukraine's embrace of the West, domestic politics on both sides, and the Kremlin's ambition to expand its role as an energy superpower.So far neither side seems in a hurry to resolve the crisis, which has crippled parts of eastern Europe particularly. Instead, each may be jockeying for long-term advantage in a high-stakes confrontation that could reorder Europe's energy grid.Negotiations broke down Dec. 31, leading Russia's Gazprom to cut off the delivery of gas intended for Ukraine's domestic consumption the next day. Gazprom cut off all shipments through Ukraine to Europe a week later, claiming Ukraine was siphoning gas that had been meant to transit its territory westward to Europe.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has taken a tough line on negotiations - demanding Ukraine's Naftogaz pay Russia the same as far wealthier western European customers, publicly accusing Ukrainian officials of corruption and refusing to ship gas without a contract.Efforts by the European Union to mediate the dispute have resulted in frustration and confusion. An agreement collapsed Tuesday just hours after gas shipments resumed - when Russia pumped 1.6 million cubic meters of gas, and then accused Ukraine of failing to ship it west.Some in Europe see this as a heavy-handed Russian power play and Moscow meanwhile has lost significant revenue. But Europe's frustrations could play to Putin's advantage if they help to swing EU opinion in favor of Gazprom's $15 billion Nord Stream pipeline project.That project would carry gas directly from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine and other former Soviet bloc countries that have developed frosty relations with the Kremlin since the collapse of communism.Germany supports the project. But some European critics, including Poland, worry that it would increase the continent's reliance on Russian gas.By playing hardball, Moscow risks spurring Europe to seek alternate sources of natural gas. But they're difficult to find. Efforts to build the so-called Nabucco pipeline to carry gas from Central Asia to Europe has had routing problems. And Russia has signed high-priced contracts with Turkmenistan, the region's main supplier.Since the end of the Soviet era, Moscow has repeatedly pressed Kiev to sell all or part of its pipeline network. Ukrainian leaders have resisted, regarding the pipelines as their trump card in relations with an increasingly assertive Russia.Control of the pipeline would save Russia's gas giant Gazprom at least part of the $3 billion it now pays Ukraine in annual transit fees. Last year, Ukraine bought about $8.5 billion worth of gas from Russia.Russian control of the pipeline network would increase Moscow's economic and political influence in Ukraine, a one-time ally that has tried to forge closer ties to the West since the Orange Revolution of 2004, which brought Yushchenko to power.Ukraine's president has sought membership for Ukraine in NATO and the European Union, and supported Georgia in its August war with Russia - moves that have infuriated the Kremlin.For more than a decade after independence, Ukraine was Russia's largest and closest ally in the former Soviet Union, and Moscow sold Kiev gas at a steep discount.Low prices proved addictive, and today Ukraine's inefficient industries and government-run district heating plants burn vast quantities of the fuel.A 2007 report by Simon Pirani of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies said Ukraine has "the world's most energy-intensive economy." In 2005, the report said, Ukraine consumed 73 billion cubic meters of gas, "an amount similar to Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia or the entire African continent."Experts say Ukraine wastes so much gas because low prices gave it little incentive to conserve fuel.Domestic politics in both countries also have made it harder for Russia and Ukraine to settle their dispute.Yushchenko and Tymoshenko - former Orange Revolution allies - now control competing power centers and are rivals in presidential elections that could come as early as the end of this year.Neither can afford to be seen surrendering to the Kremlin, nor do they want to be blamed for higher natural gas prices.Economists warn that the Ukrainian economy, hit hard by the global economic crisis, could be crippled by the price Moscow is demanding. Dozens of major businesses could be forced into bankruptcy.Russia, too, may be approaching a political watershed in which the gas dispute could play a role.Some analysts predict that Medvedev will step down in the next few months and call special elections, paving the way for Putin to run for the presidency. Putin stepped down last year, honoring a constitutional limit on Russian presidents serving more than two consecutive terms.But Putin remains Russia's most prominent political figure, and has taken the leading role in the current gas crisis. A victory over Ukraine in the gas war could rally popular support for Putin's return to the Kremlin.

CRIME Briefs - Russian senators vote to abolish juries for terrorist trials

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - The upper house of Russia's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to abolish juries for terrorist trials and cases involving kidnapping, state treason, espionage, coup d'etats and other serious offenses.
Under the bill, the country's criminal code will be amended to require that trials of suspects charged with terrorism offenses will be heard by a panel of three judges.
The amendments will also tighten criminal responsibility for those charged with terrorist offenses.
Criminal offenses involving explosives aimed at causing damage to companies, transportation and communication networks or vital infrastructure with a view to disrupting Russia's economic security and defense capabilities will be punishable by 12 to 20 years in prison.
Defendants charged with premeditated murder could face 15 to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment against the current 12 to 20 years behind bars.
Similar prison terms are expected for terrorists who target nuclear energy facilities or use nuclear, radioactive, toxic or biochemical materials to maim or kill.