MOSCOW – The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Russian government failed to investigate well the killing of a prominent human rights activist in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Tuesday’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) involved the killing on 15 July 2009 of Natalia Estemirova, a prominent human rights defender in Chechnya, who abducted and found her dead in the head and chest.
The ECtHR noted that the Russian government had quickly opened an investigation into Estemirova’s killing and knew of a suspect, but that Moscow’s failure to provide all the elements of the case had made the court “unable to conclude that the investigation had been thoroughly conducted. “she noticed certain contradictions in the skillful testimony that led her to doubt the effectiveness of the investigation.
The victim’s sister, Svetlana Estemirova, argued in her appeal that state agents were the murder, but the Strasbourg court ruled that the evidence did not support the claim.
The court asked Russia to pay 20,000 euros ($23,600) to Estemirova’s sister and suggested the Russian government locate and punish the perpetrators of her murder.
Estemirova sharply criticized Chechnya’s regional leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, who relied on his feared security forces to his regime and cracked down on dissent in the region. International human rights teams have accused the Chechen government of kidnapping, torturing and killing their opponents.
The Kremlin, which relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, has strongly supported him despite foreign criticism.
Amnesty International, the ECtHR ruling highlighted “the unwavering impunity in Russia. “
“The Russian authorities have given Carte Blanche to Chechen leaders to continue to commit abuses and silence anyone who dares to speak out,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Acting Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In the 12 years since Natalia was killed, not only did they fail to identify or hold the perpetrators accountable, but they also remained silent and complacent, as other human rights defenders in Chechnya have been exposed to the same dangers, attacked, threatened and prosecuted. “
Krivosheev said that “the attack on human rights in Chechnya has intensified and civil society has been methodically extinguished through the Chechen authorities,” adding that human rights activists “face death threats, arbitrary arrests and sentences, and many hounds and activists have been forced into exile. “
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