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Natalya Estemirova

Mary Lawlor: First Anniversary of the 10 on the 10th Campaignposted on: 2011/12/10

Mary Lawlor, Director of Front Line Defenders updates the 10 on the 10th campaign, one year after it was launched on International Human Rights Day.

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Russia: Natalya Estemirova's relatives lodged a complaint to ECHR against ineffective investigationposted on: 2011/09/20

Human Rights Center Memorial issued a statement on the complaint lodged by the relatives of the murdered human rights activist Natalya Estemirova to the ECHR.

Russia: Natalya Estemirova's relatives lodged a complaint to ECHR against ineffective investigationposted on: 2011/09/20

Human Rights Center Memorial issued a statement on the complaint lodged by the relatives of the murdered human rights activist Natalya Estemirova to the ECHR.

Full Text of the Statement from Memorial

September 8, deputy head of the department of the Prosecutor General's Office Aleksey Vasilkov said that the murder of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, happened on July 15, 2009, is solved. HRC "Memorial" and Estemirova's relatives suppose that the prosecution doesn't have any grounds to state that.

September 9, lawyers from HRC "Memorial" (Moscow) and European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (London) and the lawyer of victim's family Roman Karpinskiy applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). They lodged a complaint against the failure to carry out an effective investigation of the case, which violates Art. 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Particularly the applicant's legal representatives (Estemirova's relatives, who were recognized as an aggrieved party) have been denied access to the criminal case files.

Russian Federation: Demand justice for Natalya Estemirova and help protect human rights defenders at riskposted on: 2011/06/20

Natalya Estemirova was a human rights defender and journalist in the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya. Natalya was abducted from her home in Grozny on the 15th July 2009. A few hours later her body was found in neighbouring Ingushetia. Her hands were bound, two bullets in her chest and one in her head. Her crime: researching and reporting on kidnappings, torture and murders, the 'disappeared' in Chechnya, and about the young men who had been abducted by death squads connected to the security forces. Sometimes I just can't even come to feeling that, because I have such strong other feelings. I try to be very exact about how I go about things and I do have worries about my family and people close to me but I still have to do my work. Of course there are many moments when I feel scared. Natalya Estemirova

Russian Federation: Demand justice for Natalya Estemirova and help protect human rights defenders at riskposted on: 2010/10/12

Natalya Estemirova was a human rights defender and journalist in the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya. Natalya was abducted from her home in Grozny on the 15th July 2009. A few hours later her body was found in neighbouring Ingushetia. Her hands were bound, two bullets in her chest and one in her head. Her crime: researching and reporting on kidnappings, torture and murders, the 'disappeared' in Chechnya, and about the young men who had been abducted by death squads connected to the security forces. Sometimes I just can't even come to feeling that, because I have such strong other feelings. I try to be very exact about how I go about things and I do have worries about my family and people close to me but I still have to do my work. Of course there are many moments when I feel scared. Natalya Estemirova

Further Information

Previous threats made against both Natalya and the organisation she worked for, Memorial, combined with the circumstances of her murder, point to possible government / official involvement in her killing.

HRDs and investigative journalists in Chechnya often face many forms of threats and intimidation.

Russian Federation: Assassination of human rights defender, Ms Natalya Estemirovaposted on: 2009/07/16

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.