Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov vowed to personally oversee the investigation into the brazen murder of a Memorial human rights activist — even though the victim’s supporters accuse his own security forces of being involved in the slaying.
Kadyrov made the promise as the United States and the European Union condemned Wednesday’s daylight kidnapping and execution-style shooting of Natalya Estemirova, a daring investigator of rights abuses in Kadyrov’s territory.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a Munich news conference with President Dmitry Medvedev that the killing was an “unacceptable event.”
Medvedev called it “a very sad event” and said he was determined to find and punish Estemirova’s killers.
“Her professional activities are something that is needed for any normal state,” Medvedev added. “She did very important things. She spoke the truth, she openly, even maybe harshly, assessed processes going on in the country — and this is valuable, even if it is unpleasant to authorities.”
Estemirova was killed on the same day as the release of a report she helped research that concluded there was enough evidence to demand that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other officials be called to account for crimes committed on their watch.
Leading rights activists said they held Putin and Kadyrov, the man he has repeatedly endorsed, responsible for her killing. “I blame both of them for the killing — for involvement in the killing,” Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, told an emotional news conference in Moscow.
Memorial head Oleg Orlov said Kadyrov hated Estemirova and saw her as “a personal enemy.” He said Kadyrov has created an atmosphere in which people in Chechnya are kidnapped every day and put into secret prisons.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected the accusations. “These views are actually contrary to real efforts that were undertaken by Mr. Putin during the last decade in terms of bringing peace, stability and rule of order to … Chechnya,” he said.
Kadyrov vowed to bring the perpetrators of a murder he called “cynical” and “provocative” to justice. His spokesman Alvi Kerimov said Kadyrov has promised two investigations — one official and one “unofficial, according to Chechen traditions.” It was unclear exactly what this meant.
Kadyrov was also accused by some of involvement in the 2006 slaying of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who also exposed abuses in Chechnya and was a friend of Estemirova. But Kadyrov reportedly replied, “I don’t kill women.”
The deputy head of the State Duma’s Security Committee, Gennady Gudkov, said Kadyrov’s promise to investigate “doesn’t mean anything” and such murders usually remain unsolved.
Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in televised remarks that he would personally oversee the investigation.
The Interior Ministry said it was exploring four possible motives for the killing: Estemirova’s professional activities, an attempt by a rebel leader to discredit the government, robbery or “an unsuccessful family relationship.”
Chechen ombudsmen Nurdi Nukhazhiyev said he suspected that Estemirova’s death was connected to the killings of Politkovskaya and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, an associate of Estemirova slain in Moscow in January. “The latest killing and the murder of Politkovskaya and Markelov are all links in one chain,” Nukhazhiyev told RIA-Novosti. No killers have been jailed in the slayings.
Estemirova, 50, was kidnapped Wednesday morning outside her home in Grozny, Memorial said. About nine hours later, her body was found near a federal highway in Ingushetia.
Dozens of people rallied on Moscow’s Pushkin Square to call for a thorough investigation. In Grozny, Estemirova’s daughter Lana, 16, was among about 100 supporters who gathered outside the headquarters of Memorial. “I can’t imagine that mom won’t be around anymore and that I won’t be making a morning coffee for her anymore,” Lana Estemirova said.
Relatives will decide whether to bury her on Thursday or Friday, said Shakhman Akbulatov, the head of Memorial’s Grozny office.
Ekho Moskvy radio, meanwhile, reported that a rights activist was detained Thursday and several copies of the rights report blaming Putin and other officials were seized. Igor Kalyapin, head of the Association Against Torture, was detained near the city of Nizhny Novgorod.
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