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NEWS & LETTERS, August - September 2009
World in View
Chechnya murders
by Gerry Emmett
Prominent Russian human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was found dead of gunshot wounds to the head and chest hours after being kidnapped by four men in a car in the Chechen capital of Grozny on July 15. She had been investigating human rights abuses, torture and disappearances by Russian government forces.
Oleg Orlov, the head of Memorial Human Rights Center, the organization Estemirova worked for, said, "A terror campaign is being conducted in Russia--terror against people who dare say things that are uncomfortable and unpleasant for the authorities, who talk about the crimes of those in power. The highest officials of Russia in recent years and today--including Putin and Medvedev--are to blame for the creation in Chechnya of a climate of permissiveness, impunity and the carrying out of massive, grave crimes by representatives of the state."
Many victims were deeply involved in exposing and opposing Russian human rights abuses in Chechnya. In the last decade Russia has become a very dangerous place for journalists, with a list of slain that may run into the dozens. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists ranks it the third most dangerous place to be a reporter, behind only Iraq and Algeria.
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