Russian rights activist Natalya Estemirova murdered

[babylonsister]

Russian rights activist Natalya Estemirova murdered

A Russian campaigner on human rights was abducted and murdered on Wednesday, hours after her organisation backed calls for Vladimir Putin to face trial over atrocities in Chechnya.


By Miriam Elder in Moscow
Published: 8:34PM BST 15 Jul 2009


Natalya Estemirova, who won numerous international awards for her work, was bundled into a car as she left her home in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Her body was later found by the side of a road in the neighbouring province of Ingushetia. She had been shot twice in the head at close range.

Mrs Estemirova, a single mother in her early 40s, was the seventh opponent of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed Chechen president, to have been murdered in the past 10 months.

Her colleagues at Memorial, which is widely regarded as Russia's most respected human rights organisation, alleged that Mr Kadyrov was responsible for the killing.

"Ramzan Kadyrov is responsible, not only because he leads Chechnya," alleged Oleg Orlov, Memorial's director. "He threatened Natalya, told her that her hands would be covered in blood and that he destroys bad people.

"We didn't say this before because we were scared for her safety." Mr Kadyrov's spokesman said he was unaware of the activist's disappearance.

more...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/5837306/Russian-rights-activist-Natalya-Estemirova-murdered.html

[myrna minx]

1. .

:cry:

[LeftishBrit]

2. Horrible!

RIP Mrs Estemirova. A very brave woman.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Uh oh. nt

[cascadiance]

4. A lot of journalists and activists dying in the former Soviet Union...

Another died in Kyrgyzstan a couple of days ago after a police beating...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5js9FEGBrDNaLir6PFLwDH2Dl92vAD99DKLDO0

And another Russian journalist died two months after what appeared to be a brutal beating at the end of June...

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-06-30/Journalist_dead__murder_or_accident.html

And another Russian activist died about the same time in prison from what appears to have been a murder by prison guards according to some...

http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Opposition_Activist_Dies_In_Prison/1766232.html