The Nation‘s Katriana Vanden Heuvel (and wife of Russia scholar Stephen Cohen) has addressed the murder of Natalya Estermirova. According to preliminary reports, Estermirova was abducted and stuffed in a van. Her corpse was later found murdered near a woodland area near Nazran in Ingushetia. Estermirova had a direct connection to the Nation. She wrote a chronicle of Anna Politkovskaya’s work in Chechnya for the magazine in 2007. About Politkovskaya, Estermirova wrote:
“There are those with a vested interest in keeping the Russian Abu Ghraib forgotten–so that they can once again kidnap and torture. Our task, however, is to uncover their deeds and to fight them. Anna was at the forefront of this work for many years.”
The final line of that article reads: “She is no more. Now it is up to us to continue her work.” Well, Estermirova did, and like Politkovskaya, paid the ultimate price, most likely at the hands of very people who have a “vested interest in keeping the Russian Abu Gharib forgotten.”
For Russian Live Journal reactions see Vilhelm Konnander’s summary on Global Voices.
While Estermirova was no journalist by trade, her personal friendship with Politkovskaya once again reminds one of the dangers of activist journalism in Russia. However, it is important to remember that most Russian journalists who’ve been killed or beaten don’t have high profile status or Western liberal friends. Most write for small papers. Most live far from Moscow where local power is much more immediate and violent and where baseball bats and metal pipes, not pistols, tend to be the weapon of choice. Most write not on Chechnya or oligarchs in Moscow, but on local political and business corruption. The most recent example of such a journalist was Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, the editor-in-chief of Rostov paper Corruption and Crime. He was beaten to death in April and died of his injuries in late June.
Vanden Heuvel says that more than thirty journalists have been killed since Yeltsin. I’ve read much higher numbers. It just depends how you categorize them. But one thing is for sure, this pattern unfortunately has continued with Putin and Medvedev at the helm.
Equally sad is the pessimism that these types of incidents induce. While I share Vaden Heuvel’s call to honor the courage of Natalya Estemirova, I’m afraid that even despite Medvedev’s expression of outrage, that her call for justice, however necessary, will ring hollow.
{ 33 comments }
“most likely at the hands of very people who have a “vested interest in keeping the Russian Abu Gharib forgotten.””
Evidence?
Heuvel’s article was so ignorant that I doubt she bothered to even google Estermirova’s name.
Chris — Evidence is everywhere. Natalya has been threatened and harangued repeatedly by the Chechen authorities, including by Kadyrov himself last year. Perhaps you should Google?
Matthew — let’s see. Rather than simply preventing her from coming to Chechnya, Kadyrov has her abducted and killed. Then, rather than throwing the body in a lake, he has her transported across the border and her body dumped in an easily findable locale near the capital city, with her identifying documents on her person to be found by the local police. Yes, this is logical.
It’s the perfect crime!
Even if Kadyrov specifically (I love this pseudothinking — as if there was only one faction in Chechnya. If somebody was murdered in Chechnya, it must have been Kadyrov!) did it, it does not follow that it was because he wanted to hide torture and kidnapping.
Really, I have to wonder if some people have enough oxygen going to their brains.
Incidentally, here specifically is what is ignorant about VDH’s piece and makes me think she simply rewrote and Nationized an AP report.
There is currently a power struggle going on in Ingushetia triggered by the attempted murder of the republic’s president last month and the murders of several of the republic’s officials. (Actually, the murders may be part of the power struggle.) Many people are agitating for the return of the previous president, which has been blocked by UR and Kadyrov.
Simultaneously, there is a power struggle going on between forces in Chechnya and forces in Ingushetia. The Chechen government wants to reunite with Ingushetia. Presumably, given the demographics of the region, this would make Chechens (specifically, Kadyrov) the dominant force in the reconstituted republic. The Ingush do not want to reunite, for obvious reasons. This amid accusations that people are attempting to set the vainnakh against each other.
This is the background against which the murder takes place. A murder which, oddly, involved a suspicious Chechnya-Ingushetia border crossing.
VDH doesn’t mention any of this, because she doesn’t know.
One other thing. When Kadyrov said “her hands would be covered in blood” he almost certainly meant that she was guilty of the deaths of Chechens killed by shaitany, as in “their blood is on your hands.” Which is why she is “bad.” Not HER OWN BLOOD.
Now that I think of it, the part of my argument about how K could have prevented her from coming to Chechnya in the first place doesn’t hold up, since as a Russian citizen she can go anywhere. (Could he have refused registration?)
However, the rest of the argument holds. You do not kill somebody and dump their body across the border in an easily found location with their documents on them unless you want the body to be found, and in that location. A strange thing for Kadyrov to do.
I think Chris has a point here. On Memorial’s website, the following appears:
“В России творится государственный террор. Мы знаем об убийствах в Чечне и за пределами Чечни. Убивают тех, кто пытается говорить правду, критиковать власть. Рамзан Кадыров сделал невозможной работу правозащитников в Республике. Те, кто убил Наташу Эстемирову, хотели прекратить поток правдивой информации из Чечни.”
The assumption is that, because Kadyrov didn’t want her snooping around, he must have decided to murder her rather than let her escape with whatever evidence of human rights abuses she found or might have found. But what could be worse PR than having a Memorial activist murdered in your backyard? This has attracted far more negative press coverage that any ‘new’ revelations about the already well publicized detention and interrogation camps in Chechnya.
In lieu of any real evidence, I’m inclined to think that “they kill whomever speaks the truth” remains a bit of an exaggeration, even in an age when государственный террор is knocking on the door.
For me the whole tragic point is that once again another brave person working on behalf of human rights was assassinated in Russia. There is something clearly screwed up in Russia itself that so many human rights activists and journalists are either beaten or killed within its borders. Whether or not the person who ordered a particular murder of an activist or a journo works for the government (local or national) is not as significant as the fact that there is a climate in which such murders (and beatings) are much too common.
“There is something clearly screwed up in Russia itself that so many human rights activists and journalists are either beaten or killed within its borders.”
Such as a weak central government?
“But what could be worse PR than having a Memorial activist murdered in your backyard?”
Not only that, the body of said activist was transported across the border and placed in an easy-to-find location with her documents, obviously MEANT TO BE FOUND AND IDENTIFIED, in a region in which Kadyrov is controversial and attempting to make a power grab.
I don’t buy into the Kadyrov as culprit for Estemirova for many of the reasons Chris has stated. Key among them is Russia’s weak central government, and if you follow what is going on in Chechnya-Ingushetia, there are all sorts of nefarious individuals who would have an interest in taking out a human rights activist. I’m not saying that I agree with the provocation theory (that is just to make Kadyrov look bad), but at the same time, I wouldn’t discount the murder being part of a larger power struggle. Kadyrov is merely a symptom of a larger disease in the region.
The cold-hearted callous murder of Ms Estemirova’s highlights yet again the perils faced by journalists and human rights activists working in conflict zones around the world. By bringing hard hitting facts to the public arena they irrefutably place themselves in the sniper scope of their enemies. Tragically, this despicable crime against both Human Rights and Press Freedom is becoming an increasingly all too common occurrence across the globe. Nevertheless, many journalists remain undaunted in the face of such adversity and continue to run this gauntlet of reprisal in the pursuit of bringing crimes perpetrated against innocents to world attention.
The perpetrators of this grotesque act of murder against the world of human rights must be brought to justice. By allowing these murders to go unpunished is setting a dangerous precedent for other dictatorships to follow!!
Even though all signs point to Kadyrov, I can’t be sure that I buy the theory that it was his direct order. He was running a healthy little theifdom with few problems from Moscow, and now I am sure he isn’t too happy with some new pressures that are coming.
I wonder why more people aren’t pointing out that HRW published two reports using Estemirova’s reporting – one of them on the day before her murder – on revenge killings and house burnings.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/13/russia-halt-punitive-attacks-chechnya
It seems like the stories about Putin getting edged out of influence may have some merit. There is nobody of significance running policy in the Caucasus right now, and in this vacuum, parties likely related to Kadyrov took advantage.
However if Kadyrov took the hit on this one and was prosecuted anyways, it would just be justice for some other family of his victims.
“It seems like the stories about Putin getting edged out of influence may have some merit.”
That’s been obvious for some time. The Kremlin has very little influence in Chechnya.
“I’m not saying that I agree with the provocation theory (that is just to make Kadyrov look bad”
Kadyrov himself says that somebody is likely trying to set the Ingush against the Chechens (more precisely, reunite the conflict that took place when Chechnya broke off from Russia and tried to force Ingushetia to go with it).
Kadyrov himself says that somebody is likely trying to set the Ingush against the Chechens
How would killing a human rights activist do this exactly?
That Guardian article that James excerpted in Amsterdam’s blog is a good one:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jul/16/estemirova-murder-russia-chechnya
I liked the fact that much of it concentrated on Estimorava herself. A truly remarkable woman. Perhaps it’s too early to tell, but I’m heartened that so far (it seems to me) there have been no attempts to besmirch her character. It was grotesque that when Politkovskaya was killed so much of the online commentary were attacks on Politkovskaya herself.
“How would killing a human rights activist do this exactly?”
I’m sorry, I misread him. Here’s what he said:
Между тем президент Чеченской республики Рамзан Кадыров заявил: “Те, кто организовал и исполнил это чудовищное преступление представляют нашему обществу не меньшую, а может, и большую угрозу, чем террористы и ваххабиты, пролививашие кровь тысяч невинных людей”. По его словам, это убийство является “четко спланированной акцией, преследующей цель втоптать в грязь и чеченский, и ингушский народы, отвлечь внимание и силы правоохранительных органов от широкомасштабных спецопераций, проводимых чеченской и ингушской милициями при поддержке федеральных сил, которые позволили за короткий период уничтожить десятки боевиков и их главарей”. “Эстемирова посвятила себя защите прав человека. У нее не могло быть врагов среди числа здравомыслящих людей. И те, кто лишил ее жизни, не имеют права называться людьми, не заслуживают никакой пощады, и должны быть наказаны как самые жестокие преступники”, – считает Кадыров.
Исполняющий обязанности президента Ингушетии Рашид Гайсанов выразил соболезнования родным Эстемировой и заявил, что “это преступление направлено против мира и согласия не только в Чечне и Ингушетии, но и на всем Северном Кавказе, против всей России”.
http://www.interfax.ru/politics/txt.asp?id=90382
I was thinking that there may not be some nefarious faction here involved at all. Let’s face the reality that Kadyrov is very popular in Chechnya, in part because the human rights situation during him is actually far improved compared to what it was before (according to Memorial’s own data, which I am sure must piss him of to no end). It is not hard for me to imagine some macho, revenge-killing-obsessed young Chechens who, say, had clan members killed by shaitany or Ichkerians reading something by her they considered offensive and deciding to take action.
Or maybe it was aliens.
Sean, I just tried to post something, but I think your spam filter caught it.
I’ll try again. I was misremembering Kadyrov’s statement:
Между тем президент Чеченской республики Рамзан Кадыров заявил: “Те, кто организовал и исполнил это чудовищное преступление представляют нашему обществу не меньшую, а может, и большую угрозу, чем террористы и ваххабиты, пролививашие кровь тысяч невинных людей”. По его словам, это убийство является “четко спланированной акцией, преследующей цель втоптать в грязь и чеченский, и ингушский народы, отвлечь внимание и силы правоохранительных органов от широкомасштабных спецопераций, проводимых чеченской и ингушской милициями при поддержке федеральных сил, которые позволили за короткий период уничтожить десятки боевиков и их главарей”. “Эстемирова посвятила себя защите прав человека. У нее не могло быть врагов среди числа здравомыслящих людей. И те, кто лишил ее жизни, не имеют права называться людьми, не заслуживают никакой пощады, и должны быть наказаны как самые жестокие преступники”, – считает Кадыров.
Исполняющий обязанности президента Ингушетии Рашид Гайсанов выразил соболезнования родным Эстемировой и заявил, что “это преступление направлено против мира и согласия не только в Чечне и Ингушетии, но и на всем Северном Кавказе, против всей России”.
http://www.interfax.ru/politics/txt.asp?id=90382
I made plenty of attacks on Politkovskaya when she was alive. She was kind of a lunatic.
David Remnick at the New Yorker writes about Natalia, and includes some audio.
http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2009/07/audio_david_remnick_on_natalia_estemirova.htm
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/07/david-remnick-natalia-estemirova.html
WTF? Why are people refering to her by her first name?
Well, I was going to say something about the “cult of Natasha…” (I just made that up, but I think there is a weird obsession with pitying/mythologyzing Russian women named Natasha.) Then I thought, Oh, I should go see what Natalia Antonova has to say about this.
I thought I’d share since it’s not something you’re likely to find in our male-dominated Russia-experto-blogo-sphere.
Do Natalia Estemirova’s killers feel like big, strong men?
“And Estemirova’s killers must have believed in Estemirova – believed in her power, believed in the danger she presented to them and their methods”
Not if it was a revenge killing.
Or a provocation.
It presupposes that the murder was done because somebody felt threatened by her, and not because they were offended by her or wanted to use her as a tool.
It only presupposes that someone thought she was important enough to kill.
No it doesn’t. It presupposes that she was killed because somebody thought she posed a danger. If I am some street thug and kill somebody because I want their money or shoes, I did not kill them because I felt threatened by them, but because I wanted their money or shoes. If I am somebody who kills somebody else who I feel wronged me, I do not do so because I feel that they are a danger, but because I feel that justice requires that they die. (The latter actually being a common motivation in Chechnya,)
Note pivotal phrase:
“And Estemirova’s killers must have believed in Estemirova – believed in her power, believed in the danger she presented to them and their methods”
A pre-emprtive strike of the pure-Islam followers?
Friend Doom gets easily agitated, talks non-stop and can’t make anything clear.
What Doomsik is trying to say, “Putin is innocent!”
Comments on this entry are closed.