Seven UN human rights experts have asked the Russian Federation to allow them into the country to help investigate last week’s murder of leading rights activist Natalya Estemirova.
The move followed a call by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for a thorough and independent probe into the killing, which sparked worldwide condemnation.
Estemirova was abducted in her native the Chechen Republic and her body was found in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.
The experts said they recognized the Russian authorities had condemned the murder and pledged that every effort would be taken to catch and punish the killers of Estemirova, who represented Moscow rights body Memorial in the Chechen Republic.
"However, these assurances will be worth little unless the authorities take steps that go beyond what has been done in the past which has all too often led to a cycle of impunity," they said in a statement issued through the United Nations in Geneva.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said he was determined to find 
and punish Estemirova’s killers. But Memorial executive committee member Alexander Cherkasov (right) thinks that “It does not depend on President Medvedev. Everything depends on those who work on the ground. I don’t believe the case will be investigated immediately, especially after Ramzan Kadyrov has said he would personally oversee the procedure. I am very concerned that innocent people will be found guilty and forced to ‘confess’ their crime. It is a routine practice in these regions. Natasha Estemirova has reported about such cases many times.
Murderers have to be brought to justice, but new crimes should not be committed for the sake of proving that something is being done to find Estemirova’s killers. “
P.S. Demonstrators turned out in Moscow on July 16 to express outrage over Estemirova’s brutal killing. Estemirova is the second Memorial worker to have been slain in the Chechen Republic. In April 2006, Bulat Chilayev, a driver for the group’s medical program, was abducted and killed.
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