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Less than a month after the murder of one of Chechnya’s most prominent rights activists Natalya Estemirova two more human rights workers have been murdered in the Chechen Republic under similar circumstances.

A meeting devoted to the 20th anniversary of Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia and a round table on the problems of rights of the citizens adjudged to be legally incapable will be hold within the Congress of Psychiatric Associations of Eastern Europe and Balkans.

The report highlights numerous cases of human rights violations in the context of anti-terrorism operations as well as illegal acts committed under the veil of anti-terrorism actions.

Neither UN human rights experts nor Memorial members believe Russian authorities will investigate the killing of Natalia Estemirova effectively and impartially and bring perpetrators to justice. The office of the Russian human rights group Memorial is being closed
because of concern for the staff’s safety. For some, it removes the last layer of protection for ordinary Chechens.

The South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders strongly condemns the murder of the prominent human rights defender Natalia Estemirova. On the international day of justice, July 17, we call upon the Russian authorities to conduct an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation of this case and previous murders of human rights defenders in the country. We also call upon the Russian authorities to further ensure a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders in their country.

Members of the Human Rights House Network call on the Chechen and Russian authorities to investigate the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova.

Natalia Estemirova, famous human rights defender from Russian Human Rights Centre ‘Memorial’ was found murdered today at about 16:30 in hundred meters distance from the federal road Kavkaz near the village of Gazi Iurt of Nazran district, the Republic of Ingushetia.

On July 2, 2009, Human Rights Watch published a report, “‘What Your Children Do Will Touch Upon You’: Punitive House-Burning in the Chechen Republic “, documenting a pattern of house burnings and extrajudicial killing by security forces to punish families for the alleged involvement by their relatives in the insurgency.

Russian human rights defenders do not expect help from abroad, but they believe that America as a great world power and President Obama as a world leader must know what kind of condition Russia’s political system is in.