Reports: Russian rights activist found dead after being kidnapped in Chechnya

September 25th, 2009 Russian activist in court over Chechen lawsuitMOSCOW — A Russian human rights activist on trial over a defamation claim filed by Chechnya's strongman president said Friday he stands by his statements blaming the Kremlin-backed provincial leader for a fellow activist's slaying in July. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov sued Memorial rights group chairman Oleg Orlov after Orlov said Kadyrov was responsible for the killing of activist Natalya Estemirova.

September 10th, 2009 European envoy asks Russia about NGO killingMOSCOW — The Council of Europe's commissioner on human rights says Russia must prosecute the killers of a human rights activist in Chechnya this year, if it is to break a cycle of violence in the region. Thomas Hammarberg said Thursday that bringing the killers of Natalya Estemirova to justice will help dissipate the atmosphere of impunity that pervades Russia's violent southern fringe.

August 30th, 2009 Slain Russian activist's colleague despairsKOSHKELDY, Russia — A leading Russian human rights activist paid an emotional visit Sunday to the cemetery where her slain colleague Natalya Estemirova is buried, weeping at her grave and predicting her killers will never be never be brought to justice. Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the widely respected 82-year-old head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, had a message as she left the plot in Estemirova's ancestral village: "Curse those who are guilty in Natalya's death." Estemirova worked for the rights group Memorial, and her reports on alleged rights abuses in Chechnya made her unpopular with the region's strongman leader and his government.

August 11th, 2009 Memorial: kidnapped Chechen activist found deadMOSCOW — The head of a Chechen aid group and her husband have been found shot dead in the trunk of their car a day after being kidnapped, police and an official of the Russian human rights group Memorial said Tuesday. Memorial's Alexander Cherkasov told The Associated Press that the bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband were found in a suburb of the Chechen capital, Grozny.

August 9th, 2009 Chechen leader: Slain activist 'had no conscience'MOSCOW —The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya said in a radio interview that a human rights activist whose bullet-ridden body was found in a neighboring province last month "never had any honor, dignity or conscience." Natalya Estemirova had been a staunch critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and led the Chechen branch of Memorial human rights group. Her body was found July 15 on a roadside in Ingushetia hours after she was kidnapped in the Chechen capital.

July 23rd, 2009 Vigil held for slain Russian activistMOSCOW — Several dozen people attended a somber vigil in Moscow on Thursday for slain human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was abducted last week outside her home in Chechnya and found dead later the same day. Participants at the vigil — held eight days after her death, in accordance with a Russian Orthodox tradition — vowed not to forget Estemirova or forgive her killers.

July 22nd, 2009 Russian activist dead, colleague suspects murderMOSCOW — A Russian human rights activist has been found dead in a sand pit weeks after he went missing, according to police and a colleague who said Wednesday that he suspects the prisoners' rights advocate was murdered. The news of Andrei Kulagin's death came a week after the abduction and killing of Natalya Estemirova, a well-respected human rights activist and critic of the Kremlin-backed leader of Russia's war-scarred Chechnya region.

July 18th, 2009 Report: Rights group to suspend Chechnya workMOSCOW — 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 quoted an official of the group as saying Saturday. Natalya Estemirova, who had investigated executions, kidnappings and other abuses, was forced into a car outside her residence in the Chechen capital on Wednesday, witnesses say.

July 16th, 2009 Comments on slaying of Russian activist Estemirova International reaction to the kidnapping and murder of Russian human rights activist Natalya Estemirova in the Caucasus. Estemirova, 50, was a leading member of the Chechen branch of the Russian human rights group Memorial.

July 16th, 2009 US 'disturbed and saddened' by Russian killingWASHINGTON — The White House says it's "disturbed and saddened" by the kidnapping and killing of a Russian human rights activist. White House spokesman Bill Burton says the killing is especially shocking because it comes a week after President Barack Obama visited Moscow and met with members of activist Natalya Estemirova's organization.

July 16th, 2009 Some recent high-profile slayings of activists, reporters and lawyers who have challenged Russian authorities in recent years. There have been no convictions in any of the following killings.

July 15th, 2009 MOSCOW - The head of a prominent Russian human rights organisation was kidnapped and killed in Russia's troubled Caucasus region Wednesday, the Moscow state prosecutor's office confirmed. The body of Natalya Estemirova, head of the group Memorial, was discovered in the Russian republic of Ingushetia with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest, reported the Interfax news agency, citing government reports.

July 15th, 2009 Russian group says activist abducted in ChechnyaMOSCOW — A prominent Russian human rights group says its leading activist in Chechnya has been kidnapped. Memorial chairman Oleg Orlov says that four men forced Natalya Estemirova into a car in the Chechen capital, Grozny, early Wednesday.

July 15th, 2009 Russian activist abducted in Chechnya found deadMOSCOW — A prominent Russian activist who investigated abductions, killings and other rights abuses in Chechnya was found killed Wednesday, hours after being kidnapped in the Chechen capital, police officials and her organization said. Natalya Estemirova's body was found in Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya to the west, Oleg Orlov, the chairman of Memorial, her rights group, told The Associated Press.

April 16th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia has ended its decade-long counter-terrorism operations against separatist rebels in Chechnya, officials said Thursday. Some 20,000 Russian troops deployed in Chechnya will be withdrawn.