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A voice for justice and human rights silenced in Chechnya

 

On July 15, Russia’s human rights community lost one of its most prominent and effective voices. Unknown gunmen kidnapped Natalya Estemirova outside of her Grozny apartment as she was walking to work. Her bullet ridden body was later dumped on the side of a highway in neighboring Ingushetia some 50 miles away. The heinous crime left those who knew Natalya stunned and devastated.  Natasha, as she was more commonly known, was a courageous defender of human rights whose meticulous research and bravery helped expose some of the most egregious war crimes perpetrated by the Russian military, often hiding out in sheds and basements as Russian soldiers took away young men during the so-called zachistkas or mop-up operations.

As the Kremlin proclaimed the restoration of “peace” with decreased large scale military operations and delegated power and security to ex-rebel turned pro-Kremlin Ramzan Kadyrov, no rest came for Natasha,. Kadyrov’s militia’s brutal tactics in dealing with the insurgency threat meant that people continued to disappear, bodies continued to turn up with signs of torture, and a sense of impunity and injustice continued to pervade. As Kadyrov solidified his hold on the republic and every other facet of Chechen society, Natasha and the organization she represented, Memorial, became the last bastions of truth willing to openly stand up to Kadyrov. Through her meticulous research and detailed reports, Natasha documented and exposed grave human rights violations perpetrated by Chechen authorities.

It was clear that she was becoming an irritant and at one point, after Natasha had the audacity to go on Russian TV and criticize the Chechen President’s headscarf policy, she was called into a personal meeting with Kadyrov, threatened, and dismissed as the head of his hand-picked rights advocacy group only weeks after appointing her.  She was so shaken up by the incident that she left Chechnya for a few months but was unable to stay away long. Upon her return, a disturbing trend was developing that would consume the majority of Natasha’s professional and personal life, and most likely was the cause of her tragic death.
 
In a practice that was publicly announced and encouraged by Kadyrov, Chechen police began to hold accountable families whose sons had “gone to the woods” and began to torch their homes as a means of punishment. Each time, victims were threatened with further retribution if they reported the incidents. Natasha, in co-operation with Human Rights Watch, documented thirteen specific cases of house burnings that were later released in a detailed report. It is very likely that this was the last straw that resulted in the tragic events of July 15.

We do not know who murdered Natasha and most likely will never find out. The murderers of Anna Politkovskaya and Stanislav Markelov, both of whom dealt with human rights violations in Chechnya and were close colleagues of Natasha, are still at large. Such is the tragic reality of human rights defenders in Russia today. What is known is that the Chechen people, and the victims of abuse past, present, and future, have suffered an insurmountable loss. Tragically, it is likely that Memorial will shut down their Grozny bureau according to director Oleg Orlov because people like Natasha are simply far and few in between, and as one Russian journalist so aptly put it, this is precisely why they are killed first.

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