Natalia Estemirova
Natalya Khusainovna Estemirova (28 February 1958 – 15 July 2009) was a Russian journalist, teacher and human rights activist who was assassinated. Her remains were found with bullet wounds in the head and chest area at 4:30 p.m. in woodland 100 metres (330 ft) away from the federal road "Kavkaz" near the village of Gazi-Yurt, Ingushetia.
Death
- Natalia Estemirova was well-known in Russia and Europe for her publications and active efforts to expose human rights violations in Chechnya. She visited detention centers and colonies, communicated with relatives of those kidnapped in Chechnya, and brought such cases to light. On the morning of July 15, 2009, she left her apartment building in Grozny and was abducted. Later that day, her body was found in Ingushetia with gunshot wounds.[1]
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev expressed "outrage" at the murder and ordered a top-level investigation. Speaking in Germany at the time of her funeral, he paid tribute to her and again pledged a thorough investigation. He said it was "obvious" to him that her murder was linked to her professional work. Estemirova was buried in line with Islamic tradition before sunset on Thursday, in a cemetery in her ancestral village, Koshkeldy, in Chechnya's Gudermes district.
