Remember the dead

On July 15 at 17.30 a funeral picket in memory of Natalya Estemirova, who was killed on July 15, 2009, will begin on Chistye Prudy. Estemirova was an employee of the Grozny branch of the Memorial Human Rights Center and was involved in many things, including high-profile cases related to human rights violations in Chechnya, which repeatedly caused active dissatisfaction with the President of the Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. Currently, according to Kadyrov’s statement, charges have been brought against the head of Memorial, Oleg Orlov, who stated that the President of Chechnya is responsible for the murder of Estemirova. Meanwhile, Kadyrov managed to say a lot of monstrous words about the human rights activist even after her death. The murder investigation is currently ongoing, however, according to human rights activists, the investigation has settled on an unconvincing version: it is assumed that Estemirova was killed by the militant Alkhazur Bashayev, about whom she allegedly wrote. Meanwhile, as Memorial employees found out, there is no evidence that the material about Bashaev was written by Estemirova, and it is also unknown where Bashaev himself could have learned that she wrote about him. In addition, Bashaev was killed on November 13, which means that the case will be considered solved and will not have to be brought to trial. The investigation does not consider the version about the possible interest of the Chechen authorities in eliminating a person who constantly reported on their violations of the rights of other people, abductions, extrajudicial executions, burning of houses by law enforcement officers (these facts were investigated by Estemirova shortly before his death).

Participants in the 10th St. Petersburg Dialogue in Yekaterinburg (including several deputies of the Bundestag) issued a statement in connection with the anniversary of Estemirova’s death. It says:

“Exactly a year ago, a human rights activist and employee of the Memorial society was kidnapped and killed in Chechnya. Natalya Estemirova did not remain silent where fear forced others to remain silent. This murder occurred while the 9th St. Petersburg Dialogue was meeting in Munich. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the Federal Chancellor of Germany at the final meeting sharply condemned this murder and demanded to solve it, find and punish the perpetrators. President Medvedev promised to do everything in his power for this. Today, exactly one year later, during the 10th St. Petersburg Dialogue in Yekaterinburg, we are forced to note with regret that the investigation, apparently, was not carried out persistently enough. The murder has not been solved. The killers and those behind them have not been identified and remain at large. It's sad to realize this. At the same time, the President of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, says on Chechen television that Memorial employees, associates of Natalya Estemirova, are “enemies of the people,” “enemies of the law,” and “enemies of the state.” In Moscow they are trying to try Oleg Orlov, chairman of the Memorial Human Rights Center, because immediately after the murder of Natalie Estemirova he called Kadyrov, in a political sense, “responsible” for this murder. The fact that the murder of Natalya Estemirova and others has not been solved is intolerable. It is equally outrageous and intolerable that her colleagues are being threatened and tried to judge them. We, the participants of the 10th St. Petersburg Dialogue in Yekaterinburg, urgently demand that those responsible make every effort to solve the murder of Natalya Estemirova and others. We demand that the criminal case against Oleg Orlov be dropped. We believe that the Russian leadership should distance itself from the cynical and irresponsible statements of the Chechen president. It is precisely because German-Russian relations are developing constructively, as the current St. Petersburg Dialogue shows, that we ask President Medvedev and Federal Chancellor Merkel to use their influence to fulfill these demands. Commitment to the rule of law must be a fundamental element of Russian-German cooperation.”

Meanwhile, President Dmitry Medvedev said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg as part of the St. Petersburg Dialogue that Estemirova’s killer had been identified and was wanted. Human rights activists reacted with doubt to these words - how can a militant who has already been killed be put on the wanted list? The investigation did not name any other names except Bashaev. However, the investigation allows itself to doubt that Bashaev was really killed. Let's see.