The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Having before it the case of Ms. Galina Starovoitova, a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation who was assassinated on 20 November 1998, which has been the subject of a study and report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians following the Procedure for the treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of communications concerning violations of the human rights of members of parliament,

Taking note of the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which contains a detailed outline of the case (CL/186/12(b)-R.1),

Considering that Ms. Galina Starovoitova, a member of the State Duma and co-chair of the Democratic Russia Party, was shot dead on 20 November 1998; two men, one of them disguised as a woman, intercepted her and one of her aides, Ruslan Linkov, in the stairwell of her apartment in the centre of St. Petersburg and shot them with an automatic weapon and a pistol; Ms. Starovoitova was shot in the head and killed instantly, while her aide was hospitalized with serious head wounds,

Considering the following information on file, as provided to the Committee over the years mostly by the Russian Parliament, regarding the investigation and judicial proceedings:

• In June 2005 two persons, Mr. Kolchin and Mr. Akishin, were found guilty of Ms. Starovoitova's murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the St. Petersburg City Court, which in its judgment concluded that the murder had been politically motivated; in September 2007, Mr. V.B. Lelyavin was found guilty of complicity in the murder and sentenced to 11 years in prison while Mr. Stekhnovsky, found guilty of helping to acquire an Agram 2000 submachine gun, a silencer and ammunition, was sentenced to two years in prison and has since been released; four other suspects were acquitted and released;

• National and international arrest warrants are pending for Mr. Mussin, Mr. Bogdanov and Mr. Fedesov, charged with committing a terrorist act and attempting to commit a crime for the purpose of concealment;

• On 25 August 2009, the Federal Security Services reopened the investigation, which had been suspended in April 2008; the reopening followed an appeal made by Mr. Linkov, Ms. Starovoitova's assistant, and her sister, to the President of the Russian Federation and came after the arrest of a former member of the State Duma, Mr. Mikhael Glushchenko, in St. Petersburg, on suspicion of organizing the killing of three Russian citizens in Cyprus; according to the Prosecutor General's report of 2 October 2009, Mr. Glushchenko was questioned about the case of Ms. Starovoitova and a further investigation was carried out, which, however, failed to produce sufficient evidence of his involvement in the murder;

• According to the Prosecutor General's report of 2 October 2009, "the investigation of the case was suspended on 4 September 2009" and "there are at present no grounds for changing the decision taken and reopening the investigation"; yet the same report continues by stating that, in accordance with legislation on criminal proceedings and the Federal Law on "operational investigative activity", the preliminary investigation body identified a set of measures intended to identify the instigators of the crime and locate the accused who were evading justice, and that the investigation of the case and the operational investigative steps were monitored by the Public Prosecution Department in St. Petersburg and the Prosecutor General's Office,

Considering that, in its concluding observations of 24 November 2009 regarding the implementation by the Russian Federation of its obligations as a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed "its concern at the alarming incidence of threats, violent assaults and murders of journalists and human rights defenders in the State party, which has created a climate of fear and a chilling effect on the media … and regrets the lack of effective measures taken by the State party to protect the right to life and security of these persons" and urged the State Party "to take immediate action to provide effective protection and ensure the prompt, effective, thorough, independent, and impartial investigation of threats, violent assaults and murders and, when appropriate, prosecute and institute proceedings against the perpetrators of such acts",

1. Is deeply concerned that, more than 11 years after Ms. Starovoitova was murdered for political reasons, the masterminds have not been identified and held to account; deeply regrets that the authorities, despite their substantial achievements in bringing to justice several of the material perpetrators, have not made any tangible progress on this point, almost five years after the murder was qualified as politically motivated;

2. Affirms that so long as those who killed Ms. Starovoitova remain at large, her murder continues to serve as a deterrent for others wishing to speak out on critical issues and can only embolden those bent on silencing such voices, and thus undermine freedom of expression;

3. Calls therefore on the authorities, as is their duty, to do their utmost by lending fresh impetus to the investigation with a view to finally elucidating this crime and identifying the instigators; calls on the Parliament of the Russian Federation, which has a special interest in the case given that the victim was a member and was killed for exercising her freedom of speech, a parliamentarian's basic tool, to carry out the stringent oversight that the lack of results on this point warrants;

4. Wishes to receive any official information that is publicly available on the status and course of the current investigation and the latest monitoring steps taken by the Parliament;

5. Would appreciate receiving copies of the judgments handed down on Mr. Kolchin and Mr. Akishin, at least of the Court's conclusions, together with, if possible, copies of the judgments handed down on the other culprits and confirmation that the first three persons convicted in this case are indeed serving their sentences;

6. Requests the Secretary General to bring this resolution to the attention of the authorities and of the source;

7. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 123rd IPU Assembly (October 2010).

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