...reflections (mostly) on the past week of 8 - 14 July 2017 by Simon Cosgrove
This past week marked the 8th anniversary of the brutal abduction and murder (on 15 July 2009) of Natalia Estemirova who for several years had been the leading member of the NGO Memorial in Chechnya. The killing of this courageous human rights defender, for which no one has been held responsible, stands as a terrible example of impunity in today’s Russia. The week also saw the fourth anniversary of the murder of journalist Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, a Caucasian Knot correspondent, in Dagestan (on 9 July 2013). In this case also, those responsible for the killing have yet to be brought to justice. While the investigation into Natalia Estemirova’s death formally remains ongoing, the authorities suspended the investigation into the killing of Akmednabi Akhmednabiyev in November 2015. [Read more]