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Killings in Chechnya
Zarema's end
Aug 13th 2009 | MOSCOW
From The Economist print edition
More brutal murders in lawless Chechnya
ZAREMA SADULAYEVA was not political. She did not investigate crimes
committed by Russian and Chechen security men or write articles about
them. She ran an independent charity that helped children traumatised,
physically and emotionally, by two Chechen wars. Her organisation, Save
the Generation, dealt with those who had lost limbs and parents.
AP
On August 10th, in broad daylight, a group of armed men—some in
military fatigues, others in civilian clothing—walked into her office and took
away her and her husband, Alik Djabrailov (a former rebel). The men
returned to pick up the pair’s mobile phones and car. A few hours later,
their bodies were found in the boot near Grozny, riddled with bullets. In
their callousness and impunity the executions recalled the murder of
Natalia Estemirova, a human-rights defender, a few weeks ago.
The two women worked across the street from each other and shared the
belief that human life and dignity are more important than political
Another funeral in Grozny
expediency. It is not a belief apparently held by the Chechen or Russian
authorities. Shortly after the murder of Ms Estemirova, Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president, told Radio
Liberty that she had “no honour, dignity or conscience”. His henchmen consider human-rights workers
legitimate targets. Mr Kadyrov bears much responsibility for the climate of impunity and terror in
Chechnya. With the silent blessing of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister and his patron, Mr Kadyrov
has created a totalitarian system in the province.
Mr Kadyrov has been expanding his personal power, acting more as a Kremlin ally than as a subject and
state employee. If Moscow had the will to investigate the murders of human-rights defenders and to
protect the few still working in the region, it could easily do it. But the murders remain unsolved and
human-rights activists, lawyers and journalists continue to die (a journalist was killed in neighbouring
Dagestan on August 11th).
An independent investigation in Chechnya would cause friction with Mr Kadyrov who is personally loyal to
Mr Putin and whose means, in the Kremlin’s eyes, justify the end of stabilising Chechnya. In fact, Russia’s
“victory” in the Chechen wars is deceptive. The entire north Caucasus remains a battleground, where
people die daily. On August 12th armed rebels gunned down Ingushetia’s construction minister. The
Kremlin has not made Chechnya into an integral, law-abiding part of Russia. But it has moved Russia
closer to Chechnya.
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
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