Par: Priscila Néri, Posté le: Aug 12 09

Regions: Russia

Issues: Forced disappearances, Impunity, Violence

Tags: accountability, chechnya, Crying Sun, human rights defender, killing, memorial, Missing Lives, Oleg Orlov, political persecution, Ramzan Kadyrov

Coming Soon: Bearing Witness in Chechnya: A Tribute to Natalia Estemirova, an event co-hosted by WITNESS that will take place on October 29th at 7pm at the CUNY Graduate School in New York. Join us - the event is free and open to the public.

*UPDATE, October Event: On 10/29, WITNESS, the PEN American Center, Human Rights Watch, the Committe to Protect Journalists, and CUNY's School of Journalism will host Bearing Witness in Chechnya: A Tribute to Natalia Estemirova. The free public event will feature readings and conversations to honor the legacy of Estemirova, while calling attention to the situation on freedom of expression in the provinces of the North Caucasus and Russia in general. Participants include author Salman Rushdie, former investigative reporter Michael Arena, co-editor-in-chief of n+1 Keith Gessen, HRW researcher Tania Lokshina, journalist Elena Milashina, and filmaker/human rights activisits Zarema Mukusheva.

*September 25: "The current situation in the Chechen Republic, where horrendous crimes violating human rights go systematically unpunished, has given me every basis for believing in the unconditional political guilt of Ramzan Kadyrov in the death of Natalia Estemirova," the head of Memorial Oleg Orlov said at the opening of the trial in Moscow today where he and Memorial stand accused of defamation by Chechen President Kadyrov, The New York Times reports. 

*August 14: The Moscow Times reports that Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov is suing Oleg Orlov, head of Memorial's Board, for $314,800 for defamation after Orlov accused Kadyrov of involvement in Natalia's murder.
* August 12:  A video published by the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus shows Adam Delimkhanov - second-in-command to Ramzan Kadyrov - issuing a threat to human rights defenders and saying they will "pay for their words" just 11 days before Natalia's murder (more in A Step At A Time). Meanwhile, leading independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta announces it's pulling journalists out of Chechnya following the recent string of murders.
* August 11: The BBC reports that another Chechen activist, Zarema Sadulayeva, and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov, have been found dead in a car near Grozny after being abducted from the offices of Russian charity Let's Save the Generation. Amnesty International calls on the Russian government to investigate the killings and end impunity.
* July 25: Peter Gabriel pays tribute to Natalia and dedicates the song Biko to her memory during a concert at the World Music Arts and Dance festival in Wiltshire, England.
* July 20: Memorial announces it has suspended operations in Chechnya after Natalia's murder due to concerns for the safety of the organization's staff. 
* July 19: Russian President Medvedev sends a telegram to Memorial expressing his condolences and promising to investigate Natalia's death and prosecute those responsible.  

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Original Post from July 15: We've just received the devastating news that Natalia Estemirova, a human rights activist from our partner organization Memorial in Russia, has been found dead in Ingushetia after reportedly being kidnapped near her home by four men in Grozny, Chechnya.  According to Madina Khadziyeva, Ingush Interior Ministry spokeswoman, Natalia's body was discovered on a roadside with two close-range bullet wounds to the head and chest. 

"We're deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and collaborator Natalia," says WITNESS' Program Coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, Violeta Krasnic, who has worked closely with Natalia and the Memorial team over the years.  "Natalia's work was absolutely essential in documenting the most egregious human rights abuses and bringing the message of justice and accountability to relevant officials.  She was also a pioneer in using video to document these crimes and her contribution will be very much missed."  

Violeta is currently in contact with Memorial to better understand the current situation and we'll be posting new information about the investigation as it becomes available.  In a statement, Memorial said that Natalia had been threatened many times by officials of various levels.  Oleg Orlov, head of Memorial's Board, who was also kidnapped in 2007 (see his testimony about the incident here), said:

"I know for sure who is responsible for the killing of Natalia Estemirova. We all know that man. It is Ramzan Kadyrov, president of Chechen Republic. Ramzan threatened Natalia, insulted her, believed her to be his personal enemy. We don't know whether it was Ramzan himself who ordered to kill Natalia or his close associates did it to please the ruling authority. And President Medvedev seems satisfied to have a murderer as a head of one of Russia's republics.”  

The New York Times noted that "in recent years, Natalia had focused on crimes carried out under the authority of the Chechen president Kadyrov, a regional strongman who has enjoyed unwavering support from the Kremlin. Her work was met with threats and denunciations," including a personal threat from Kadyrov himself according to the paper.  Reached by the NYT, Tatyana Kasatkina, deputy director of Memorial, also said that she believed Kadryov was behind the killing.  “There have been threats for a while, and now Kadyrov hopes to lower the curtain,” she said. “With Natasha’s murder, Kadyrov drew the line and sent a message to human rights groups: ‘I won’t tolerate you.’ ”. 

The AP writes that Natalia's "killing came only hours after a news conference in Moscow where human rights groups presented a [600-page] report saying that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other top officials should be prosecuted in an international court for crimes committed during the two wars that devastated Chechnya over the past 15 years."  

Local organizations fear the connection between the release of the report and Natalia's death, especially after the killings of other prominent activists in Russia like investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov.  In 2007, Natalia participated in memorial service for Anna organized by the PEN American Center and spoke with journalist David Remnick about the loss of her friend.  Here are some excerpts of what Natalia shared in that conversation:

"Memorial is doing very significant work to fight torture in Chechnya. And much of the information that has been gathered about torture was information that Anna and I gathered together. (...) The torture that I'm referring to is carried out by people who work in the security agencies of the Chechen government. Some of this is done completely within the legal framework of the Russian federation and some of it is not. (...) Who did it [killed Anna]? Well, there are many criminals who are afraid of Anna and afraid of her investigations."

That same year, Natalia received the Human Rights Watch Defender Award.  This video was produced by HRW in her honor:

At this difficult time, we send our thoughts and condolences to Natalia's family and friends.  And as a tribute to Natalia's lifelong dedication to human rights, we'd like to honor her memory with the two videos we had the privilege of working with her on.  

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CRYING SUN tells the story of the people of the village of Zumsoy, in the Chechen mountains, as they struggle to preserve cultural identity amidst military raids and enforced disappearances by the federal army and attacks by guerrilla fighters.  The video calls on local and federal authorities to end impunity for human rights violations and restore policies for the return of villagers to their ancestral homes.

MISSING LIVES addresses the "counter-terrorism operations" conducted by Russian military and security forces in Chechnya since 1999, which have resulted in the enforced disappearances of over 3,000 people who still remain missing.