Translated material
Slow business
Dmitry Medvedev spoke about the investigation into the murder of Natalya Estemirova
Yesterday, on the anniversary of the murder of Natalya Estemirova, an employee of the Memorial human rights center, President Medvedev announced that the investigation had identified the perpetrator of the crime, who had already been put on the federal wanted list. Now, according to the head of state, it remains to determine the organizer.Meanwhile, Memorial was very surprised by this statement. The fact is that earlier the investigative authorities had already announced that this case had been solved, and the perpetrator of the murder was named militant Alkhazur Bashaev, who was killed during a special operation in Chechnya last fall. It remains a mystery who exactly the president had in mind.
Yesterday in Moscow, on Chistoprudny Boulevard, an action was held in memory of Natalya Estemirova, and after that, colleagues of the deceased gathered for a memorial evening at the Memorial house. Similar actions took place in several other Russian cities.
An employee of the Grozny branch of the Memorial center, Natalya Estemirova, was kidnapped on July 15, 2009 in Grozny, and on the same day her body with gunshot wounds was found in the Nazran district of Ingushetia. After her murder, the head of Memorial, Oleg Orlov, stated that the President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov was guilty of it. The head of Chechnya, in turn, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Orlov, accusing the human rights activist of libel, but in early February he withdrew this lawsuit, according to him, at the request of his mother. Mr. Kadyrov himself stated that he considers the disgraced oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who is now hiding in London, to be involved in the murder of Estemirova. Mr. Berezovsky, in turn, denied these accusations and said that the Kremlin was the mastermind of the crime.
The authorities first announced that the murder of Chechen human rights activist Natalya Estemirova had been solved on February 25. Then a certain source in the security forces stated that the investigation knew the perpetrator of the crime. However, on the same day, the UPC denied this information. Some time later, the human rights organization Memorial, where Ms. Estemirova worked, stated that the investigation had indeed succeeded in identifying the killer. According to Oleg Orlov, investigators believe that the human rights activist was shot by Chechen militant Alkharuz Bashaev, who, according to official data, was killed a little later, in November last year, during a special operation in the village of Shalazhi in the Achkhoy-Martan region of Chechnya. Then a large detachment of separatists was destroyed as a result of a missile attack on their base.
However, Mr. Orlov immediately doubted that Bashaev was actually the killer of Natalya Estemirova. According to him, investigators came to this conclusion after a cache was discovered in Chechnya, in which they found the pistol from which the human rights activist was killed, and a fake ID of an Interior Ministry officer in the name of Alkharuz Bashaev with his photograph. “Who, tell me, after such a murder, will hide a pistol along with documents in their name? It’s strange that next to this pistol and ID they didn’t find his sincere confession,” noted the head of Memorial.
Another reason for suspicion regarding Bashaev was that on the hard drive of Estemirova’s computer, which investigators seized, material was found about how separatists in the village of Shalazhi were preparing teenagers to participate in hostilities, and Bashaev’s name appeared in it. The investigation considered that a native of the village of Bashaev could thus take revenge on the human rights activist for the article. However, according to Mr. Orlov, Natalya only edited this material, and it was written by another person.
According to the head of Memorial, the investigation is still confident that Bashaev was the perpetrator of the crime. This is confirmed by a document from the investigation materials, dated March 31, which is posted on the organization’s website: “On July 15, 2009, at approximately 7.35 Estemirova left the entrance and headed towards the public transport stop. At the same time, member of the illegal armed group Alkharuz Bashaev and other unidentified persons under the leadership of Uspakhadzhiev, using physical force, placed Estemirova in a white VAZ-2107, in which they took her to a forest, where they killed her with a pistol with a silencer, inflicting many gunshot wounds to the head and torso."
The Russian president yesterday, at a joint press conference with Angela Merkel, assured that the investigation is in full swing: “In such cases there are never quick results unless someone grabs you by the hand.” Currently, Mr. Medvedev added, investigative actions are being carried out aimed at identifying who ordered the crime.
Mr. Medvedev’s words regarding the “Estemirova case” greatly surprised the leadership of Memorial. “We expected that on the anniversary of Natalya’s murder the investigative authorities would say something about the progress of the investigation, but we did not expect this from the president,” Mr. Orlov said, noting that he did not even guess which perpetrator the president was talking about. - If Bashaev really was meant, then there is reason to be disappointed, then this version is very doubtful. But Bashaev is dead, and the killer is wanted, so it’s not clear who he meant.” The RF SKP, for its part, refused to comment on Medvedev’s statement, explaining that it would be “unethical” to talk about it after the president. “How can we comment on what the president said? This is excluded,” the department’s press service told Vremya Novostei.