The ECHR awarded compensation to the sister of the murdered human rights activist, but found no evidence of the authorities’ guilt

The European Court of Human Rights found no evidence of Russian authorities' involvement in the murder of human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, but awarded compensation to her sister for an ineffective investigation into the case. This is reported by the ECtHR itself.

Chechen human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was killed on July 15, 2009. The perpetrators have not been found and punished so far. Estemirova investigated the deaths and abductions of civilians during and after the Second Chechen War.

The court found that during the investigation into the murder of Estemirova, Russia violated Article 38 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the obligation to provide the necessary conditions for the consideration of the case). As the Memorial human rights center explained in a comment to Mediazone, the point is that there was no violation of the right to life (Article 2 of the Convention), and the Russian authorities were not involved in the death of the human rights activist, but the court found a violation of the right to life in an ineffective investigation crimes.

The ruling , published by the ECtHR, states that Russia did not provide a complete copy of the materials of the criminal case, due to which the court was unable to conduct a quality investigation. For example, to make sure that the Russian investigation was thorough enough. At the same time, the court notes, Estemirova's sister could not prove that it was the authorities who abducted the human rights activist.

As a result, the ECHR considered that Russia was not responsible for the murder of the human rights activist, but indicated the need to continue the investigation. Sister Estemirova was awarded 20,000 euros in compensation by the court.