Human rights activists demand investigation of their colleagues’ murders

The human rights activists who organized a memory action in Grozny timed to the second anniversary of the murder of Zarema Sadullaeva and her husband Alik Jabraiilov declared that they would appeal to the management of Investigative Department of Chechnya demanding investigation of the murders of members of the organization “Save the Generation” and human rights activist Natalia Estemirova.

“Exactly two years passed since the day when Zarema and Alik were carried away from the office of “Save the Generation” and next morning they were found murdered in the trunk of their own car, Kheda Saratova, member of Expert Council with the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation says. – It happened just a month after Natalia Estemirova’s murder, therefore it was even more awful and painful”.

“According to some information we received from competent sources, the murder was committed for the reason that Alik Jabraiilov who was an amnestied gunmen did not accept the conditions members of the top brass offered him, - Saratova continues. – Things like that have happened in our republic: there are still undetected criminal cases concerning the gunmen who refused to collaborate with members of the top brass”.

In the opinion of Taisa Isaeva, Director of Informational center “Union of Independent Organizations”, public actions let the authorities know that civil society does exist in Chechnya.

“Zarema, unlike Natasha Estemirova, was doing peaceful work but they killed the pregnant woman in the same cruel manner. They shot her down and flung her beside her husband, - Isaeva says. – It does not matter for these people who they are dealing with: a human rights activist speaking the truth or a person undertaking humanitarian projects and rendering aid to children”.

Minkail Ejiev, Chairman of Human Rights Center of Chechnya, co-chairman of the “Union of Independent Organizations”, organizer of the action of memory of Zarema Sadullaeva and Alik Jabraiilov, told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that the goal of the action was to draw attention to this crime.

According to the human rights activist, he and his colleagues were planning a meeting with Head of Investigative Department of Chechnya in order to discuss the problem at a round table conference one of these days and find out why there have been no answers to the questions the human rights activists asked the investigative bodies for two years and at what stage investigation of the murder of Zarema Sadullaeva, Alik Jabraiilov and Natalia Estemirova is.