Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009europe and central asia: analysisApart from her own reporting on dangerous assignments, Estemirova wasa go-to person for outside journalists and human rights defenders. “This loss isabsolutely irreplaceable, not only for us, her friends, but for [Russian] society andfor the world. Because if it weren’t for Natasha, nobody would know what reallygoes on in Chechnya,” Lokshina told the Russian service of the U.S. governmentfundedRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Lokshina, who had justcollaborated with Estemirova on a report documenting punitive house burningsby Chechen law enforcement, went on to say: “Of course there are people livingin Moscow and abroad who try to cover Chechnya, but even if they travel to theregion, they are still tourists. … Natasha lived there, she was in the epicenter ofevents, and she guided us.”Her murder immediately crippled reporting in Chechnya. The Groznybranch of Memorial, which Estemirova headed, halted activities for nearly sixmonths, while NovayaGazeta announced itwould indefinitely suspendtrips to Chechnyabecause it couldAuthorities repeatedly summonedEstemirova to meetings intendedto intimidate her.not ensure the safety of its reporters. In microcosm, the impact of Estemirova’smurder reflects the chilling effect that impunity has had on media coverageoverall in Russia.International groups were also harmed by the killing. Her reports for Memorialwere regularly used by the United Nations and the Council of Europe, forinstance, in preparing their own human rights strategies with regard to Chechnyaand the North Caucasus, Lokshina told CPJ.Estemirova’s colleagues believe she was killed in retaliation for her documentationof official abuses in Chechnya. Authorities, including Kadyrov, had repeatedlysummoned her to “meetings” intended to threaten and intimidate her intostopping her work, according to colleagues and news reports. At one such meeting,in March 2008, Kadyrov asked Estemirova a series of questions about herpersonal life and family, including her teenage daughter. Kadyrov told Estemirovathat day: “Yes, my arms are in blood up to my elbows. And I am not ashamed ofit. I killed and will kill bad people. We are fighting the enemies of the people,”Human Rights Watch reported. Estemirova’s daughter was relocated after thatmeeting; the journalist herself took brief trips away from home.But, as always, she returned to her work. A July 17, 2009, New York Timesreport said that Estemirova had been summoned three months earlier for questioningby Chechen police, “an incident that so worried her co-workers at Memorialthat they reported it to the Council of Europe.” The Times also noted ameeting between Estemirova’s Moscow-based Memorial supervisor, Oleg Orlov,The Chechen presidentcalled Estemirova‘a woman no one needs.’and Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, the pro-Kadyrov Chechen human rights ombudsman.Speaking five days before Estemirova was killed, according to the account, Nukhazhiyevtold Orlov that high-ranking officials were “extremely dissatisfied” withMemorial’s most recent investigations.Although President Dmitry Medvedev condemned the killing, Kadyrov’sreaction left reason to believe that justice would not be served. Immediately afterthe murder, Kadyrov said he wastaking the investigation “under personalcontrol” and declared the killers“deserve no support and must be punishedas the cruelest of criminals,” thenews agency Interfax reported. He sent a different message a month later, in aninterview with the Russian service of RFE/RL. Responding to a suggestion thatindependent, outside investigators might be better suited to handle the probe,Kadyrov told RFE/RL: “If the law works here, why should we invite outside people?… If Kadyrov is guilty, if Kadyrov’s people are guilty, let it be proved.“Why would Kadyrov murder a woman who no one needs?” he asked. “Shenever had any dignity, honor, conscience.” Kadyrov went on to file a defamationlawsuit against Memorial’s Orlov, who had publicly accused the Chechen presidentof involvement in Estemirova’s kidnapping and murder.In her 10 years of reporting on the Second Chechen War, Estemirova documentedand publicized human rights abuses by all parties in the conflict, includingthe separatists. Her work could have provided a number of parties with motiveto kill. But can an independent investigation truly be conducted by Chechenauthorities when its iron-fisted president says “no one needs” the victim? Can anyonereally believe local investigators have the freedom to examine work-relatedmotives, including Estemirova’s reporting on official human rights abuses? CPJand others have called on the federal-level Prosecutor General’s Office headedby Yuri Chaika and the Investigative Committee headed by Aleksandr Bastrykinto assign the case to independent detectives from outside the North Caucasusregion, and to require regular progress reports from them.Fundamental steps can be taken in the other, failed probes. Closed investigationsmust be reopened; investigations that are open in name but stalled inpractical terms must be restarted. Under Russia’s centralized law enforcementsystem, federal officials in Moscow have the ultimate practical responsibility forsolving journalist murders; they must demand specific progress reports fromtheir subordinates at the district and regional levels. Russia’s top leaders, PresidentMedvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, share the moral responsibilityfor Russia’s impunity record; they must hold their appointees accountablefor progress in journalist killings. Medvedev and Putin should also publicly160161