Baburova's political activity may be traced back to her having witnessed an attack by neo-Nazis on a foreigner, after which she wrote in her diary, "It is difficult to look in the eyes of aKorean student, who has only just been struck in the temple by two juvenile thugs... they waved 'Sieg Heil' towards the tram and ran off."
Baburova was active in the anarchist environmentalist movement. She participated in the activities of ecological camps, in social fora, including the FifthEuropean Social Forum inMalmö 2008, organised the 'Anti-capitalism 2008' festival, demonstrated widely, and was involved in anti-fascist activities more generally.
In July 2008, Baburova participated in a demonstration against the felling of theKhimki Forest. For her involvement in another protest against the eviction of former pork factory workers from theMoscow factory, 'Smena' and impoverishedCIS immigrants she would spend a night in prison. The day before her murder, Anastasia appeared at the anarcho-communist unity event 'Autonomous Action'. Earlier she had written an article on behalf of the journal 'Avtonom'.
Throughout 2008, Anastasia Baburova worked on the editorial team of the Russian newspaper,Izvestia, and had had dozens of articles published by bothIzvestia andFinancial News, particularly on finance. Beginning in October 2008, she investigated (as a freelance-journalist)Russian neo-Nazi groups forNovaya Gazeta.[16][17] In December 2008, she resigned from this post over the political course of the newspaper, which, according to the British weekly newspaperThe Economist, may be characterised by "nationalism, spinelessness and cynicism".
At first it was reported that Baburova had been wounded in an attempt to detain Markelov's killer, but later Russian law enforcement authorities declared that Baburova was shot in the back of the head. Baburova died a few hours after the attack at a Moscow hospital.[18] Baburova became the fourthNovaya Gazeta journalist to be killed since 2000.
According to Russian military analystPavel Felgenhauer, the details of the murder indicate involvement of Russian state security services.[5] In November 2009, Russian authorities declared the end of the criminal investigation. The murder suspects were 29-year-old Nikita Tikhonov and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Eugenia Khasis, members of a radical neo-Nazi nationalistic group. According to investigators, Tikhonov was the one who committed the murder, while Khasis reported to him, by cell phone, the movements of Markelov and Baburova right before the assault. The motive of the murder was revenge for Markelov's prior work as a lawyer in the interests of anti-Russian activists. The murder suspects were arrested, and were reported to have confessed. In May 2011, Tikhonov was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Khasis was sentenced to 18 years in prison.[22]
^Донских, Илья (21 January 2009)."Такой она была" [That's the way she was].Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived fromthe original on 23 February 2009. Retrieved5 March 2009.
