year 2009. Memorial leaves Chechnya

5 years ago, on July 17, 2009, the human rights organization "Memorial" temporarily suspended its work in Chechnya, after human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was abducted and then killed from her home in Grozny two days earlier. The head of Memorial, Oleg Orlov, accused Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov of being involved in the murder, who “personally threatened her in a private conversation when he kicked her out of the post of head of the Grozny Public Council.” In addition, as Orlov noted, “one of Natasha Estemirova's last reports was that the Kadyrovites in the village of Akhkinchu-Borzoi kidnapped people, and then one of them was publicly shot in the middle of the village. In particular, this message caused strong anger at the top, in the leadership of the Chechen Republic and personally from Mr. Ramzan Kadyrov.

Estemirova's killers have not yet been found, while the investigation adheres to the official version - the murder was the revenge of Chechen fighters. According to the current head of Memorial, Alexander Cherkasov, already in 2013, “the investigation was suspended, that is, neither alive nor dead.”