Natalya Estemirova – her recent case she publicized

By her collegue Tanya Lokshina

“I’m being kidnapped!”: Natalya was heard calling out before she  had been abducted by unidentified men  in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, where she lived and worked as a human rights defender and later.Natasha was dedicated to exposing the gross misrule of Chechnya today.

Anyone who challenges the authorities risks his/her life.

Among the most recent cases Natalya publicized was that of Madina Yunusova, 20, who married a suspected Chechen militant last month. Yunusova’s husband was killed in early July. Two days later, security forces came to her house, locked her mother, father and two sisters in the adjacent shed, and used gasoline to set the house on fire. The armed men unlocked the shed as they left, and Yunusova’s family managed to put out the fire. The next day, the forces returned — this time bringing Yunusova’s body wrapped in a shroud, along with instructions to bury her “without noise.”

House burnings have become a frequent form of collective punishment by local authorities, with at least two dozen incidents in the past year and a half. Suspected militants and collaborators, their relatives and any other perceived enemy of the regime can be tortured, abducted and assassinated.

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Дмитрий Медведев подписал закон, отменяющий процедуру первоначального назначения судей на три года

Федеральный закон «О внесении изменений в статьи 6 и 11 Закона Российской Федерации «О статусе судей в Российской Федерации» и в статьи 17 и 19 Федерального закона «Об органах судейского сообщества в Российской Федерации», принят Государственной Думой 24 июня 2009 года и одобрен Советом Федерации 7 июля 2009 года.

Федеральный закон будет опубликован в разделе «ДОКУМЕНТЫ».

Russia : Khodorkovsky – most famous political prisoner

Protection under rule of law and preservation of political freedoms are human rights.Amnesty International defines a political prisoner as

“any prisoner whose case contains a significant political, in a broad interpretation of the word, element – either the motivation of the actions of the prisoner, the actions themselves, or the motivations of government authorities.”

The long list of due process and human rights violations that have characterized Khodorkovsky’s treatment, and tarnished the Russian government’s reputation, began immediately after Khodorkovsky’s arrest. His requests to be released on bail were denied despite the fact that numerous prominent Russian citizens, including members of the Duma, provided guarantees that Khodorkovsky would not leave the country. His lawyers were illegally searched and documents seized, and the Russian Government brought (unsuccessful) disbarment proceedings against nearly every member of his legal team.

Who is Khodorkovsky and why he become the most famous political prisoner in Russia in those days?

Khodorkovsky is known to the world for his commitment to transparency and corporate governance in business as well as his contributions to the development of civil society in Russia.

Prior to his arrest, by masked special forces troops armed with automatic weapons Mikhail Khodorkovsky was known throughout the world as Russia’s most successful businessman and leading philanthropist. He actively promoted civil society, fought corruption, encouraged foreign investment, and sought to integrate Russia into the world community. Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a patriot whose continued imprisonment is a scar on the Russian political landscape.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky built YUKOS into one of the most successful businesses in Russia by bringing the best talent and best practices known in the oil industry. He, along with Platon Lebedev, introduced modern technology and management skills into what had been a nearly bankrupt Soviet-style energy producer. Wishing to share his success with his country, Khodorkovsky became a leading philanthropist, contributing millions of his own for civil society foundations, education programs, and student scholarships.

read more here about Khodorkovsky’s life

read more here about Khodorkovsky’s trial

Russia: In Our KGB State, Don’t Bother Sealing the Envelope

Grigory Pasko: As some of you have probably read in the news, this week my fellow citizens and I woke up to a new Russia, under even greater control by the inheritants of the KGB.  As initially reported by Newsru.com,

“beginning on the 21st of July, law-enforcement organs will have unrestricted access to the postal dispatches of citizens – letters, parcels, remittances and so forth. Employees of eight siloviki structures of the RF – organs of internal affairs, of the FSB, of the Federal Protection Service (FSO) and foreign intelligence, as well as customs officers, workers of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments (FSIN) and Gosnarkokontrol – will be able to open mail for inspection.“

One can already imagine the chekists hastily equipping offices for themselves at post offices on perfectly legal grounds (of course they have been reading mail all along); the outraged human rights advocates; and the bleating – that is, the silence – of the majority of the citizens of our KGB state.

В Азербайджане убийцы журналиста Эльмара Гусейнова не найдены до сих пор

Приверженцы свободы слова в Азербайджане почтили 17 июля память погибшего от рук наемных убийц 2 марта 2005 года главного редактора журнала «Монитор» Эльмара Гусейнова.

Главный редактор популярного в Азербайджане журнала «Монитор» Эльмар Гусейнов был убит неизвестным, выпустившим в него семь пуль. Это убийство повергло в шок общественность страны. 17 июля Гусейнову исполнилось бы 42 года.

учредитель издательского дома «Ганун2 Шахбаз Худуоглу:

«с каждым годом ряды независимых журналистов редеют, а давление на свободу слова усиливаются».

Chechen president Kadyrov’s lawyer starts legal actions against the head of a human rights organization “Memoria”

Lawyer Andrei Krasnenkov has submitted to the Moscow Interior Department a request for a defamation case to be launched against Orlov, who accused Kadyrov of involvement in the murder of human-rights activist Natalya Estemirova.

In a statement published on Memorial’s website last Wednesday, Orlov said: “I know, I am certain who is to blame for the murder of Natasha Estemirova. We all know this person. His name is Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the Chechen Republic.”

Estemirova, who had been investigating kidnappings and disappearances in Chechnya for Memorial, was abducted and murdered last Wednesday in the south Russian republic.

Kadyrov’s press service said last Friday the Chechen leader had called Orlov, and said: “You are not a prosecutor or a judge, and so your statements about my guilt are, to put it mildly, unethical and insulting to me.”

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed claims that Kadyrov was behind the murder as “primitive.”

Orlov earlier said

“It’s good that Ramzan Kadyrov has decided to deal with a conflict using legal methods. You have to take responsibility for your words and I am ready to do so in court.”

Телевидение под контролем Кремля

В 90-е на телевидении доминировала свобода слова, но пришествие к власти Владимира Путина радикальным образом изменило расклад. Отныне как общественные, так и частные каналы распространяют лишь эхо благих вестей из Кремля.

больше здесь

Адвокат Кадырова подал заявление в ГУВД Москвы на главу “Мемориала”

ГРОЗНЫЙ, 20 июл –Адвокат президента Чечни Рамзана Кадырова Андрей Красненков подал заявление в ГУВД Москвы о возбуждении уголовного дела против руководителя “Мемориала” Олега Орлова за его высказывания об ответственности главы республики за убийство правозащитницы Натальи Эстемировой, сообщил в понедельник РИА Новости представитель пресс-службы Кадырова.

“Красненков подал заявление в ГУВД Москвы по возбуждению уголовного дела против Олега Орлова по статье 129 УК РФ – “клевета” – за его высказывание в адрес президента о виновности в убийстве правозащитницы Эстемировой”, – сказал собеседник агентства.

В пресс-службе сообщили, что заявление принято и дальше этим будет заниматься следователь.

Глава правозащитного центра “Мемориал” ранее заявлял, что готов судиться с президентом Чечни.

Chechnya:”Monitoring and documenting crimes that take place there – happens to be gravely dangerous.”

Memorial suspends work, staff to remain in Chechnya

Staff at Russian human-rights group Memorial will remain in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, but operations have been suspended following the killing of one its activists, the group’s chairman said on Monday.

Memorial executive committee member, Alexander Cherkasov:

“We are thinking about what to do in the future, how to help people in Chechnya, how to follow criminal cases that we helped to bring to court, and how to continue our work in compiling a list of missing people. At the moment, our work — monitoring and documenting crimes that take place there — happens to be gravely dangerous.”