July 22, 2009

Women in Black Madrid honor Natalie Estemirova

Today Women in Black Madrid held a memorial vigil for the slain activist and defender of human rights.

From their message distributed by the international Women in Black listserve:

Denounce the assassination of Natalia Estemirova for her activism in defense of human rights.

We wish to accompany her daughter, her family, and the men and women who are activists for peace in Chechnya and Russia.

We demand that the crime not remain in impunity.

We demand that the governments of Spain and the European Union align their relations with the governments of Russia and Chechnya to the end that they respect human rights.

Let us expel war and violence from history and from our lives.

Natalia Estemirova, activist and defender of human rights, was kidnapped on 15 July in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Hours later, her body appeared in the Republic of Ingushetia.

Deeply moved by the loss of our friend and companion Natalia Estemirova, Women in Black Against War (of Madrid) want to express our profound grief over her death, and in these moments, we wish to accompany her daughter, her family and the peace activists in Chechnya and Russia, sending them our solidarity and support as they face a situation that is so difficult to bear.

It is our obligation to denounce the terrible assassination of Estemirova, who was affiliated with the organization named Memorial of Grozny, and who up to the last day has been the main voice against the violence suffered by the people of Chechnya: intimidations, assassinations, tortures, kidnappings and disappearances. We suspect that her active work for human rights is the reason for her assassination. Natalia denounced the government of Chechnya and the protection that it received from the government of Russia, even though she knew it could cost her her life.

For all the people of Chechnya and for those who knew her, Natasha was an individual of principles who loved people and felt the need to help all those (both make and female) whose rights had been assailed.

We demand an immediate, rigorous and transparent investigation of the facts

We demand that the crime not remain in impunity.

We demand that the international community follow and keep watch over the case, to ensure compliance with the necessary guarantees in the process until justice is achieved.

We demand that the governments of Spain and the European Union align their relations with the governments of Russia and Chechnya to the end that they respect human rights and the defenders thereof. We feel that upon putting economic considerations above human rights, our officials are complicit in allowing impunity to prevail.

The men and women who work for human rights in the region of the Caucasus need international civil protection.

We encourage our civil society to not forget this crime nor the many others. Those who killed Natalia and those who ordered the assassination count on remaining unpunished because of the indifference and fear of the civil population. Our protests and our voices requesting justice are always necessary and useful.

Mujeres de Negro de Madrid

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA

From MEMORIAL: On the Killing of Natalia Estemirova
July 15, 2009, 1 page pdf:

From Human Rights Watch: "Estemirova was a researcher with the leading Russian human rights group Memorial for a decade and had worked closely with Human Rights Watch, including on its recent investigations into the punitive killings and house burnings against people suspected by Chechen authorities of having links to rebels.

In 2007 she was given the Human Rights Watch Defender Award. This video was presented to introduce her work."
Source and 2007 tribute video