The respected Russian human rights group Memorial is stopping work at its office in the republic of Chechnya after the kidnapping and killing of one of its most daring activists, a Russian radio station has quoted an official with the group as saying.
Natalya Estemirova, who had investigated executions, kidnappings and other abuses, was forced into a car in the Chechen capital on Wednesday, witnesses say. She was later found shot in the head.
Ekho Moskvy radio quoted Memorial executive committee member Alexander Cherkasov on Saturday as saying its office in Chechnya was being closed because of concern for the safety of other workers there.
“We have seen that the work that Natasha was involved in, the work done by our colleagues in Chechnya — documenting crimes committed by representatives of the authorities — is fatally dangerous. We can’t put them at risk,” he was quoted as saying.
Activists blame the forces of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for Estemirova’s killing and for widespread violations of human rights. They also complain that the Kremlin, by backing Kadyrov, has created a climate of impunity that encourages abuses.
Cherkasov did not say for how long the Chechen office would be closed, the Echo Moskvy radio station said. He could not be reached for clarification.
Memorial spokeswoman Yuliya Klimova said that a closure had been discussed, but she was not aware that a decision had been made.
Estemirova was killed the same day a report that she helped research was released, concluding there was enough evidence to demand that Russian officials, including Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin, be called to account for crimes committed on their watch.
She had worked with two other Kremlin critics who were also slain: lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anna Politkovskaya.
Estemirova had collected evidence of rights abuses in Chechnya since 1999, when the province’s second separatist war began. She was a key researcher for a recent Human Rights Watch report that accused Chechen authorities of burning more than two dozen houses in the past year to punish relatives of alleged rebels.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
RSS