Russian Federation: Assassination of human rights defender, Ms Natalya Estemirova

Front Line is deeply saddened by the killing of human rights defender Ms Natalya Estemirova, member of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre Memorial, who was abducted and murdered by armed men on 15 July 2009. Natalya Estemirova was an award winning human rights defender who had continued to document human rights violations in Chechnya and speak out on behalf of victims and their families in the face of repeated death threats and harassment.

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"Natalya was a beacon of hope for so many amidst the ongoing violent repression in Chechnya," said Front Line Director, Mary Lawlor, " and when she spent time with us in Dublin we came to know and respect not only her dedication and bravery but her deep humanity. She is a huge loss not only to Russia, but to the human rights movement around the world."

Natalya Estemirova had been working on extremely sensitive cases of human rights abuses, investigating hundreds of cases of alleged kidnappings, torture and extra-judicial killings by Russian government troops or militias in Chechnya. She worked closely with other reporters, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006, and wrote articles on human rights violations committed in Chechnya for the renowned newspaper “Novaya Gazeta.”

On 15 July 2009, Natalya Estemirova was abducted at around 8.30 am near her apartment building in Grozny. According to testimonies of several witnesses, she was seized by several armed men who drove a white VAZ-2107 model car. As she was pushed into the car, she managed to shout that she was being kidnapped. According to the staff members of Memorial, Natalya Estemirova was on the way to a business trip to the Stavropol region of Russia. Her colleagues started to worry when she didn't arrive at the scheduled meetings. The same day at approximatively 5.20 pm, Natalya Estemirova was found dead near Nazran in Ingushetia with evidence of two shots to the head.

On the evening of 15 July 2009, Memorial issued a statement in which its chairman, Oleg Orlov, accused the President of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, of involvement in the murder of Natalya Estemirova. The Memorial statement also alleged that President Kadyrov had previously threatened Natalya with death and underlined that Memorial had been aware that their latest communications “concerning new abductions, unlawful execution and the public killings in one of the Chechen villages provoked the anger of high level Chechen officials.”

Front Line believes that Natalya Estemirova was killed because of her peaceful and legitimate human rights work in particular her defence of victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya. Front Line is gravely concerned that the murder of Natalya Estemirova forms part of an ongoing pattern of extrajudicial executions of human rights defenders in Russia which have been carried out with almost total impunity.

The murders of human rights defenders, Mr Stanislav Markelov, Ms Anastasya Babyrova and Mr Magomed Yevloyev in the last 12 months illustrate the vulnerability and the lack of protection of Russian human rights defenders. Front Line welcomes the condemnation of this brutal killing by President Kadyrov. However, in response to his statement that he "will take personal charge of the investigation," Front Line stresses the importance of an independent impartial investigation into the death of Natalya Estemirova.

Natalya Estemirova spent several months with Front Line in Dublin in 2005/6 as part of our rest and respite programme for human rights defenders at risk. She had been working to document human rights violations in Chechnya throughout the conflict and enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with her daughter in a safe environment. However, she remained committed to returning to her work in Grozny in spite of repeated threats against her.