The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) chastised Russia's government on Tuesday for failing to investigate the kidnapping and killing of Natalya Estemirova, one of the country's most renowned human rights activists, a decade ago.
The court found that Russian officials had failed to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the murder, citing evidence file inconsistencies that led to doubt that the inquiry had been effective. Estemirova's family were granted 20,000 euros ($23,600) in damages.
However, the court found that the authorities could not be held personally liable for the murder, as per the NY Times. The case had become indicative of Russian security forces' ruthless actions and lack of accountability in fighting an Islamist insurgency in Chechnya during the early years of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Russia is blinded to unlawful strategies
According to rights organizations, Russia's actions, which were never publicly recognized by the government, centered on unlawful strategies of enforcing collective responsibility, in which rebels' families were attacked or their homes were burnt to force combatants to surrender.
Estemirova, a leading researcher with Memorial, a human rights organization, has been documenting victims of abductions, arbitrary murders, and home burnings in Chechnya for years. In July 2009, she was taken off a sidewalk in Grozny, Chechnya's capital and her bullet-riddled body was subsequently discovered in a field.
Per Big News Network, Russian officials also hampered the ECHR's procedures in the case, which was brought by Estemirova's sister, by refusing to comply with evidence standards, according to the court. Estemirova's daughter and the human rights organization for which her mother works both voiced displeasures with the court's reluctance to hold Russian officials accountable.
Before disappearing in Grozny, the 51-year-old Estemirova worked for the Memorial human rights organization, documenting extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and other violations by law enforcement personnel in the southern Russian province of Chechnya.
Her corpse was discovered hours later with gunshot wounds to the head and chest in nearby Ingushetia. The court observed that several of Estemirova's cases revealed particular crimes allegedly perpetrated by rebels and law-enforcement officers of the Republic of Chechnya.
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Chechnya is accused of human rights violations
Since seizing power with Kremlin support in 2007, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been accused by local and international rights groups of supervising abuses against perceived opponents, roundups, and summary processes by law enforcement, as well as many intimidation methods.
Russian and international human rights organizations have chastised Russia for failing to bring those responsible for the 12-year-old death to justice. Investigators in Russia accused and arrested a suspected terrorist, Alkhazur Bashayev, in the 2010 death, but he has yet to be apprehended.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the regional leader of Chechnya, has depended on his dreaded security forces to impose his authority and suppress opposition in the territory, and Estemirova was a vocal critic of him. According to ABC News, international human rights organizations have accused Chechen authorities of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering opponents.
Despite international criticism, the Kremlin has steadfastly supported Kadyrov in his efforts to pacify Chechnya following two separatist conflicts in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Critics and activists claim that Moscow has turned a blind eye to human rights violations in Chechnya, where it waged two wars against separatists following the Soviet Union's disintegration in 1991. Ramzan Kadyrov is the region's ruler, and his administration enjoys a high level of autonomy and subsidies in exchange for Kremlin support.
Rights groups accuse Chechen authorities and Western countries of repressing political opponents, discrimination against women, and brutally persecuting sexual minorities, charges that Chechnya's leadership rejects, as per Reuters via MSN.
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