Anastasia Baburova - anti-fascist hero

I occasionally find the obituaries in the Economist quite affecting, often when not expecting it. This week's, for Anastasia Baburova, was once such. Baburova, a young brave investigative journalist, was gunned down last month in broad daylight in central Moscow whilst walking with Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer. She tried to tackle the assasin of Markelov, who simply killed her as well. No one in government has even expressed their condolences. Human rights lawyers who defend Chechen rape victims, and reporters who report their stories, clearly aren't worth much sympathy to the powers that be in the Kremlin.

It is a fine obituary for a brave young woman:

In Turgenev’s poem “The Threshold”, a young woman stands before a door. A voice asks whether she is prepared to endure cold, hunger, mockery, prison and death, all of which await her on the other side. She says “Yes” to everything, and steps over. “A fool,” cries a voice from behind her. “A saint,” suggests another.

She deserves such fine words, but 25 years is far too early to hear them.