Another courageous journalist documenting human rights abuses in Chechnya has been silenced, writes Lucy Popescu
Many people will have been shocked to learn of the brutal murder on July 15 of Natalia Estemirova, the award-winning Russian human rights activist and freelance journalist. In my book The Good Tourist, I wrote about the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead on October 7 2006. Her body was found slumped in an elevator outside her apartment in Moscow. At the time of her death, she was working on an article about torture in Chechnya that implicated Ramzan Kadyrov, then the pro-Kremlin Chechen Prime Minister. After her murder, rumours began to circulate that Kadyrov had ordered a contract killing. At the time, the news of her death was greeted with shock and disbelief all over the world. No one has yet been brought to justice for her murder. Now, almost three years later, another courageous female activist has been silenced.
Estemirova worked with Memorial, one of Russia’s best-known and oldest human rights groups. She was a close friend and colleague of Politkovskaya and they investigated some of the same cases together, writing about them in the independent Novaya Gazeta and other local papers. Estemirova was half-Russian and half-Chechen and had often interpreted for Politkovskaya. In October 2007, she came to England to accept the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Award from the Reach All Women in War campaign group. This was established to honour female human rights defenders from conflict zones who stand up for the victims of war, often at great personal risk. The news of her death, coming so soon after Politkovskya’s, is heartbreaking. Just 50, Estemirova leaves behind a 15-year-old daughter.
On the morning of July 15, Estemirova was reportedly seized by four men as she left for work and was bundled into the back of a white car. Neighbours at her house in Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, heard her shout: “I’m being kidnapped.” Later, her body was found on the main road of a village in Chechnya’s neighbouring republic, Ingushetia. She had been shot in the head and chest.
There are many similarities between the lives and deaths of these two courageous women. Both were investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya. Both would listen to the stories of Chechen victims, telling how their relatives had been shot by Kadyrov’s troops or who had been kidnapped and tortured or who had just disappeared. Both wrote articles for Novaya Gazeta, well-known for its critical coverage of Russian political and social affairs, and collaborated with human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Both were scathing critics of Kadyrov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Their murders bear all the hallmarks of contract killings. In both cases, their colleagues have pointed the finger at Chechnya’s President.
In 2008, Estemirova left Chechnya for four months following a heated exchange with President Kadyrov. He was angry that she had challenged his order that women should wear headscarves in public in the predominantly Muslim territory. According to The Times, she told colleagues she no longer felt safe. “Kadyrov threatened her directly and she took it seriously”, said Oleg Orlov, the head of Memorial. “She agreed it was best to leave, but after a while she felt things had calmed down so she wanted to get back.” At the time of her death, Estemirova was documenting the rise in kidnappings and extrajudicial executions in Chechnya. She was also friends with Stanislav Markelov, a 34-year-old lawyer, and they worked together to represent Chechen victims of human rights abuses. In February 2009, he was gunned down in central Moscow, together with Anastasia Baburova, another freelance journalist for Novaya Gazeta.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya made a bid for independence in 1991. Boris Yeltsin’s government was concerned that if oil-rich Chechnya was granted independence, other republics would follow. When Chechnya’s defiant acts of independence could no longer be ignored, Yeltsin sent forces into the region to quell the unrest. They met with a fierce resistance. In the first Chechen war, which proved disastrous for both sides, Estemirova lost her husband. Yeltsin declared a ceasefire in 1996, signing a peace treaty a year later.
However, when Putin came to power, he ordered a ground offensive and began the second Chechen war in 1999. This time, Russia’s superior military power and indiscriminate bombing severely disabled the Chechen resistance. The same year, Estemirova joined Memorial.
Russia succeeded in installing a pro-Moscow regime in Chechnya under Akhmad Kadyrov that lasted until his assassination in 2004. His son Ramzan Kadyrov succeeded him, becoming President of Chechnya in February 2007. Human Rights Watch has estimated that around 50,000 civilians died in the two wars, of whom about a tenth were children. Amnesty International has published a horrific list of human rights abuses in Chechnya, including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and abductions, torture in unofficial detention centres and arbitrary detentions. Estemirova and Politkovskaya were intent on bringing these atrocities to the world’s attention.
After Orlov alleged that Kadyrov was a murderer at a press conference, the Chechen President responded by denying any involvement and announcing that he would sue the human rights organisation over its claims. There is little to suggest that the investigation into Estemirova’s death will uncover the true culprits.
Russia bears comparison with Mexico, a country that has been referred to as “a failed state” in recent months. President Felipe Calderon’s offensive against the drug cartels, deemed by many to be a failure, has resulted in bloody turf wars and frequent murders. Corruption is rife and attempts to enforce law and order often result in gory acts of retribution. Journalists are frequently harassed or even killed with impunity. Since 2004, 24 journalists have been murdered in Mexico; four have “disappeared”.
There is a similar pattern of violence in Russia and, in particular in Chechnya, where violence and corruption has created a lawlessness that Moscow is unable to keep in check. There have been 50 kidnappings in Chechnya alone this year. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since 2000, 17 journalists have been murdered for their work or have died under suspicious circumstances in Russia. In only one case have the killers been convicted. Those behind them remain unpunished.
When Dmitri Medvedev became President of Russia, he pledged to enforce the rule of law by investigating crimes against the press. But the CPJ says attacks on journalists continue unchecked. In the past year alone, it has documented work-related violence against 19 journalists in various parts of the country. English PEN has reported on four journalists killed in the opening months of this year.
One has to wonder, if courageous men and women keep on being killed and the perpetrators are never caught, whether Russia, too is becoming, “a failed state”. And where can the desperate people in Chechnya turn?
