ORTHODOX PRIEST SINGS A PRAYER DURING FUNERALS OF MURDERED DEPUTY STAROVOITOVA, 1998-11-24 (photo)

Mourners surround the coffin of Galina Starovoitova, as an Orthodox priest sings a prayer during the funeral of the murdered liberal politician November 24. Ashen-faced Russian politicians bade farewell on Tuesday to murdered parliamentarian and vowed her killers would not frighten them into abandoning democratic reforms. Starovoitova, 52, was shot dead on the stairwell of her apartment in the centre of St Petersburg late Friday. Starovoitova was a co-chairman of the Democratic Russia political party and was one of the most outspoken pro-democracy campaigners during reforms under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the early years of post-Soviet Russia. CVI/JDP