Stop terror!

Statement by the Moscow Helsinki Group

Reports of the death of our colleagues are becoming tragically commonplace. Today it became known about the murder of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Umar Dzhabrailov, activists of the non-governmental organization “Save the Generation”, who were kidnapped the day before in Grozny. They dedicated themselves to helping victims of the undeclared war, including disabled children affected by mines. This murder was yet another confirmation of the government’s inability to provide basic security to its citizens and another reminder of how expensive the pursuit of justice can be.

We classify the incident as an extrajudicial execution.

We demand an end to the terror unleashed in the North Caucasus against civil activists and civilians. The circumstances of the recent increase in cases of kidnappings and murders, their impunity, give grounds to say that the federal and regional authorities are exhibiting criminal inactivity.

We call on the authorities to make efforts to stop the terror and to search for and punish the criminals.

For our part, we declare that we will not stop fighting for dignity and human rights in any part of the country, including the North Caucasus.

Sooner or later, the killers of civil activists and their patrons will suffer fair and legal retribution.

We will do our best to achieve this.

August 11, 2009

Lyudmila Alekseeva, Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group

Lev Ponomarev, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, executive director of the NGO “For Human Rights”

priest Gleb Yakunin, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Public Committee for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience

The MHG statement was supported by:

Yuri Samodurov, curator of exhibition projects

Ernst Cherny, Public Committee for the Protection of Scientists

Lyubov Bashinova, journalist, human rights activist

Evgeniy Ikhlov, journalist, human rights activist

Andrey Nalyotov, Anti-War Action Committee