09:16, 19 October 2019

Fine imposed on head of HRC "Memorial" for picket in Estemirova's memory upheld

Alexander Cherkasov. Screenshot of the video by Grani.ru https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQfgQ8DXakE

A Moscow court has refused to cancel the fine imposed on Alexander Cherkasov, a human rights defender, for the action held on the anniversary of the murder of Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 15, 2019, three participants in a commemoration picket for Natalia Estemirova were detained in Moscow: Alexander Cherkasov, the chairman of the board of the HRC "Memorial"; Svetlana Gannushkina, the of the "Civil Assistance" Committee; and Elena Milashina, a journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta". Cherkasov has challenged the fine imposed on him.

The website of the HRC "Memorial" notes that the posters exposed at the action on the anniversary of Estemirova's unsolved assassination made a reference to the film "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", the heroine of which is fighting the police's inaction.

Natalia Estemirova was abducted in Grozny on July 15, 2009, taken to Ingushetia and killed there.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 18, 2019 at 09:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.