News

Oleg Orlov, Chair of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", is ready to litigate with President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who is now preparing, via his advocate, his claims to the court and Moscow GUVD (City Interior Department) in the context of Mr Orlov's statements about Mr Kadyrov's responsibility for the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova.

In Chechnya, TV channels are quoting, in their news programmes, the authorities of the republic, who keep asserting that the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova was backed by certain forces willing to blacken the peoples of Chechnya and Ingushetia and Ramzan Kadyrov personally.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" suspends its activity in Chechnya after the kidnapping and murder of its employee Natalia Estemirova.

Russian human rights activists promise to support Oleg Orlov, leader of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", in litigation against President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. This was stated by Liudmila Alekseeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Mr Kadyrov also has a supporter - Ombudsman in Chechnya Nurdi Nukhazhiev.

In the evening on July 17, about 150 persons came to St Michel Square in Paris to commemorate the perished human rights activist Natalia Estemirova.

Employees of the Chechen branches of the HRC "Memorial" are gathering to a meeting aimed to discuss the expediency of their further work and presence in the Chechen Republic. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Lilia Yusupova, advocate and head of the Gudermes branch of the HRC "Memorial".

The Special Investigatory Service (SIS) of Armenia has opened a criminal case against the policemen who used the special means named "Cheryomukha-7" during dispersal of peaceful oppositional rally on March 1 last year in Yerevan. Journalists were informed about it by Sona Truzyan, press secretary of the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Armenia.

In the course of the farewell ceremony with the well-known human rights defender Natalia Estemirova, killed on July 15, two men in civil clothes, one of them with firearms on him, tried to stop the column that moved along the Putin Avenue in Grozny ahead of the catafalque with Estemirova's body.

In the course of the meetings, held by the OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut with officials of Azerbaijan during his visit to Baku on July, 15-17, the issue was raised about the bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli, who were arrested last week.

The organization named "Berlin's German-Russian Exchange" (DRA) was shocked by the news about violent murder of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova and thinks that Russia is still far from "overcoming its legal nihilism."

The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation has restored the picture of the murder of the employee of the HRC "Memorial" in Chechnya Natalia Estemirova. Under inspectors' preliminary conclusions, the kidnappers initially were not going to kill the human rights activist, but had to do it, probably, having come across a road blockade. They could take the operative group that worked on the road for a round-up mission against them.

The picket in memory of the assassinated employees of the Grozny "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova lasted in the Novopushkinskiy Mini-Park of Moscow for one and a half hours. Over 200 persons came to commemorate the human rights activist and express protest against events in Chechnya. At 7:17 p.m. the militiamen who surrounded the site allocated for the picket demanded the participants to disperse.

On July 16, the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) passed a decision, obliging Russia to pay 50,500 euros to relatives of Arbi Karimov, a resident of Chechnya, as Russian authorities were found guilty of his disappearance in 2003.

The killing of Natalia Estemirova, prominent Chechen human rights activist, came a week after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Russian civil society activists, including members of Estemirova's group. The White House National Security Council issued a strong statement of condemnation, saying it was "deeply disturbed and saddened."

The White House has expressed sadness over the abduction and murder of Russian human rights activist Natalya Estemirova in the North Caucasus, and called on the Russian government to bring the killers to justice.

In the near future, miners-pensioners from the city of Zverevo, Rostov Region, who strive for their privileges in payment for heating, plan to send a letter to the Chairperson of the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) with the request to accelerate consideration of their claims because of the applicants' elderly age.

The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has addressed the delegation of the European Union's "trio", which arrives in Baku on July 19, with an appeal to raise, at negotiations with Azerbaijani officials, the issues of human rights violations and restriction of the freedom of press in the country.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the MIA of Dagestan that in the course of the skirmish near Shamkhal-Termen village near Makhachkala, three IAF (illegal armed formation) members were killed today and two militiamen were wounded. One of the casualties was Imam of one of rural mosques.

On Thursday, at the session of the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria on the events on October 13, 2005, the accusation party started disclosing the materials of the criminal case related to the episode named "Landysh" (Lily of the Valley).

As reported by Arkadiy Edelev, Deputy Interior Minister, 15 suspected IAF members were killed and two more were detained in the course of a special operation, conducted in the administrative border of Chechnya and Ingushetia.