22:30, 17 July 2009

Employees of "Memorial" in Chechnya discuss expediency of further work in the republic

Employees of the Chechen branches of the HRC "Memorial" are gathering to a meeting aimed to discuss the expediency of their further work and presence in the Chechen Republic. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Lilia Yusupova, advocate and head of the Gudermes branch of the HRC "Memorial".

We remind you that yesterday Oleg Orlov, Board Chair of the HRC "Memorial", said that further work of his organization in the Chechen republic after Natalia Estemirova's murder is questionable. According to his story, President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov who called him spoke in favour of the continuation of the work of "Memorial" in the republic. Chechen Ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiev, in his turn, has stated that should the "Memorial" roll-up its work in Chechnya, "Natalia Estemirova's killers will be quite happy."

Lilia Yusupova reminded that in 2006 Bulat Chilaev, an employee of the "Memorial", was kidnapped and then disappeared: "We were then running a medical assistance programme under 'Memorial' with support of the Humanitarian Help Bureau. Its employee from Sernovodsk Bulat Chilaev was kidnapped by unknown persons. We could never find him later."

Author: Dmitry Florin

Source: CK correspondent