At commemoration of Natalia Estemirova in Moscow AI activists collect signatures to petition to ICRF

Five years after the murder of Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", an action "Flowers for Natalia" was held in Moscow, organized by activists of the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI).

Activists offered seedlings of flowers to passersby asking them to plant the flowers near their summer cottages and in backyards in memory of Estemirova. Also, passersby and participants of the event were offered to sign an appeal to Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) asking to do everything in his power "to bring those who killed Natalia Estemirova to justice and punish them."

The appeal notes that it is necessary to punish the killers in order to ensure the safety of human rights defenders and journalists working in Northern Caucasus.

Sergey Nikitin, Director of the AI's representative office in Russia, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that within the five years after Estemirova's murder, there were no changes in the investigation of the case, which could shed light on the real perpetrators of the murder.

Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Committee "Civil Assistance", has suggested that the "investigators had persistently studied the deadlock version of Natalia Estemirova's murder," namely, that she was killed by militants.