Central and South Asia

Russian activist murdered

Audio: Play | Download

Anchor Laura Lynch speaks with Allison Gill of Human Rights Watch in Russia, about yesterday’s murder of a Russian human rights activist, Natalya Estemirova. Estemirova was abducted yesterday near her home in Chechnya’s capital Grozny and later found dead from gunshot wounds. Listen

Human Rights Watch tribute to Natalya Estemirova

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LAURA LYNCH: Russian human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, was laid to rest today. The 50-year old single mother was abducted yesterday near her home in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s troubled region Chechnya. She was later found dead from gunshot wounds. Estemirova, whom friends called Natasha, had documented abuses in Chechnya for more than a decade. She worked for a human rights group called “Memorial.” The group’s leader blames Chechnya’s president for the murder. President Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of the Kremlin, has denied ordering the killing. Allison Gill heads up Human Rights Watch in Russia and knew Estemirova. She’s in Moscow. Firs of all, I’m sorry for your loss, what kind of person was Natalya?

ALLISON GILL: Natalya was, Natasha was the best. She had one of the strongest and most powerful voices speaking out in support of victims of human rights abuses. She spoke up when others were silent. She was incredibly generous. She was hard hitting researcher, very careful about the facts. And her death is an enormous loss, not only for Russia, but I think for the Human Rights Movement.

LAURA LYNCH: With the risks that you say she was running, and also, considering the fact that she was a single mother to a teenage daughter, why did she choose to do such dangerous work?

ALLISON GILL: Natasha was one of the few people who never gave up on Chechnya. Chechnya has been, you know, devastated by war and human rights abuses for more than a decade. And many people just have given up, many people in the international community would prefer to forget about Chechnya, many people in Russia would prefer to forget about Chechnya, but Natasha truly believed that this was the only way to go. That continuing to work for justice and for better lives was really the only choice. You know, where others gave up, she didn’t.

LAURA LYNCH: Who would want to kill her?

ALLISON GILL: Oh, it’s so difficult, it’s so difficult to find any logic in such a horrible crime, and such deep tragedy. Natasha’s work was criticized by the Chechnyan authorities, we know that. There was a pattern of threats against her. The authorities in Chechnya need to be investigated. We don’t know who committed this murder, but we do know that there are serious and credible allegations that make it possible to believe that the authorities had a role. And that should be the subject of an investigation.

LAURA LYNCH: There’s clearly a pattern of violence against human rights activists in Russia. I’m wondering as the head of Human Rights Watch in Russia, are you worried for your own safety?

ALLISON GILL: Human Rights Watch is a big international organization and we’re relatively well known. I think that offers us a measure of protection that our Russian colleagues don’t necessarily have, and I’m very conscious of that difference. I think the most vulnerable people here are the Russian human rights activists who work for local organizations, and who do the incredibly challenging and sensitive work that Natasha did.

LAURA LYNCH: Do you tell them then, do you council them to carry on in spite of what are these obvious risks?

ALLISON GILL: I think right now everybody is doing soul searching and no one is in the position to tell anyone what kind of risk he or she should take with his or her own life.

LAURA LYNCH: Allison Gill is director of Human Rights Watch Russia office, and joined us from Moscow. Thank you very much.

ALLISON GILL: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.