Out of sight

August 28th, 2009

The murder of Natalia Estimerova was a stark reminder of the dangers human rights workers in Chechnya face when trying to draw attention to the region, writes Memorial’s Dokka Itslaev
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Politkovskaya family to appeal again

August 19th, 2009

Anna Politkovskaya’s family is to appeal against a judge’s rejection of its request for the case against three alleged accomplices to be sent back to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation in conjunction with the investigation into all other people suspected of a role in her murder. The family’s request for a postponement for the purposes of combined further investigation was backed by both defence lawyers and prosecutors. Read more here

Rights activist harrassed in Chechnya

August 19th, 2009

Akhmed Gisayev, a Memorial employee who had been working with Natalia Estemirova to investigate a sensitive human rights case in the days before her murder in July has experienced a series of menacing events in the past days and weeks. Gisayev, who lives in the Chechen capital, Gronzy, has reported being stopped by armed men in the street, having his flat searched and being under constant surveillance by security services. Read more here

Novaya Gazeta pulls journalists from Chechnya

August 13th, 2009

In Russia, opposition daily Novaya Gazeta has announced that due to increasing dangers they will pull all their staff from Chechnya after a a string of killings there on human rights activists and journalists. In October 2006, the same paper’s investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, known for her scathing criticism of pro-Moscow Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and the Kremlin, was shot dead. Read more here

Activist and husband murdered in Chechnya

August 11th, 2009

Estemirova mourners dispersed by police

July 17th, 2009

Memorial activist killed

July 15th, 2009

Union confusion

March 28th, 2008

Is Chechnya’s President Kadyrov welcome in the country’s journalists’ union or not, asks Anna Sevortian

On the 5 March Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, was inducted into the Union of Journalists of Chechnya, which is part of the Russian Union of Journalists. How can a serving politician, who is not a journalist, become a member? This question was asked by the many posts and press reports that inundated the web. Several well-known journalists announced they would cancel their membership if the information proved to be true. It did.

Kadyrov was given membership for his service to  journalism in the Chechen Republic and ‘securing optimal conditions for the independent operation of the press’. He got his certificate and union ID from his minister of external relations and press, Shamsail Saraliev.

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