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Russia human rights activist found dead in Chechnya

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Chechen human rights activist Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov were found dead in the trunk of their car Tuesday, after being abducted Monday. Saulayeva and Dzhabrailov were taken from the office of her organization, Let's Save the Generation, which works to aid children affected by violence in Chechnya. The pair were reportedly removed by a group of men dressed as security officers, and police initially failed to take action when the kidnapping was reported by Russian human rights group Memorial. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for Russian authorities to "ensure that the investigation into the murders of Chechen civil society activists Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, is effective and independent." On Wednesday, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office Investigations Administration for Chechnya said that the number of kidnappings and murders in Chechnya has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year. Tuesday's killing comes less than a month after the death of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova. Also last month, the body of Russian human rights activist Andrei Kulagin, missing since May, was found in a quarry. In January, Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was shot and killed in Moscow. Markelov represented journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot to death in October 2006. In April, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin expressed concern that activists in Russia were being attacked with greater frequency. According to HRW, more than 100 European Court of Human Rights judgments have found that Russia is responsible for grave human-rights violations in Chechnya.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 12, 2009 (boomark / email).