Participants of Petersburg Dialogue demand from Russian authorities to strain efforts in solving Estemirova's murder

In the course of the 10th Petersburg Dialogue held in Yekaterinburg its participants noted that the inquiry of the murder was not persistent enough. They demanded that Russia's authorities do the utmost to solve the murder of Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the HRC "Memorial", and stop the criminal case against the head of the HRC "Memorial" Oleg Orlov.

"Today, exactly one year after the murder, during the 10th Petersburg Dialogue in Yekaterinburg, we have to regretfully ascertain that the investigation, most likely, was insufficiently persistent. The murder is not solved. The killers and those behind them are not established and are at large," runs the statement.

Also, the participants of the Dialogue reminded that President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov "says on air of the Chechen TV that employees of the "Memorial", that is, Natalia Estemirova's colleagues, are "enemies of the nation", "enemies of the law" and "enemies of the state", and in Moscow they try to sue Oleg Orlov, who named Kadyrov "responsible", in political sense, for the murder.

"We, participants of the 10th Petersburg Dialogue in Yekaterinburg, insistently demand from the persons in charge to put maximum efforts towards solving murders of Natalia Estemirova and others. We demand to stop the criminal case against Oleg Orlov. We believe that Russian leadership should distance themselves from the cynical and irresponsible statements of the Chechen President," the statement further runs.

The authors of the document ask the President of the Russian Federation and the Federal Chancellor of Germany to use all their influence to enforce these demands and state that "adherence to a lawful state should be a bearing element of the Russian-German cooperation."

The document was signed by the following persons: Marilouise Bek, Bundestag Deputy, Berlin; Friedbert Pfluger, Berlin; Harald Laibrecht, Bundestag Deputy, Berlin; Ralf Fuks, Berlin; Andre Bri, Berlin; Alexander Kalkih, Perm; Franz Tennes, Bundestag Deputy, Ammersbek; Anatoly Arsenikhin, Tolyatti; Hans-Henning Shryoder, Bremen/Berlin; Peter Franc, Berlin; Elena Zhemkova, Moscow; Stefan Melle, Berlin; Ute Veinmann, Moscow; Iens Ziegert, Moscow; Doris Barnett, Bundestag Deputy, Ludwigshafen; Dzhemma Portsgen, Berlin; Elizabeth Dzhirikova, Moscow; Angelika Kruger-Laissner, Bundestag Deputy, Berlin; Ralf Possekel, Berlin; Ottilie Baltz, Stuttgart; and Zabine Adler, Berlin.