Amnesty Criticizes Russia For Failing to Properly Investigate Killings of Civil Activists
MOSCOW. Aug 12 (Interfax) - Amnesty International has criticized Russia for not efficiently investigating the recent series of killings of civil society activists, including in the North Caucasus.
"The international community must wake up to the fact that the systematic and continuing failure of the authorities in the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic to investigate effectively the murders of human rights activists or indeed any other human rights violations that have taken place over the past years is a strong indication that those authorities are at least acquiescent to these crimes," Amnesty International said in a statement on Wednesday.
Amnesty International condemned the recent killing of two civil activists, Zarema Sadulayeva, head of the charity Save the Generation, which helps children affected by the violence in Chechnya and works closely with the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, and her husband Alek Dzhabrailov.
"Coming only four weeks after the murder of leading Chechen human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, the latest killings are a strong reminder of the climate of impunity in Chechnya," it said.
"The light of public scrutiny is gradually being turned off in Chechnya. First, international organizations and journalists were banned from the region, and now, local civil society is being eliminated. This can only lead to the further unleashing of lawlessness which has already been destabilizing the North Caucasus for many years," it said.
"The murder of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband should alert the international community to the precarious circumstances in which human rights activists work in the Russian Federation," Amnesty International said.
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