Word: chechnya
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...fight for free speech and human rights in Russia suffered another devastating blow on July 15, when the body of Chechnya's most outspoken human-rights activist was found dumped by the side of a road. Natalya Estemirova, 50, had been killed execution-style, shot in the head and chest, just hours after being kidnapped from outside her home in Grozny, the capital of the republic situated in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region. The murder has sparked international outrage and prompted calls for a closer look at the atrocities that have been committed in the North Caucasus...
...fearless, and boldly defended the truth and protected the interests of people," Shamkhan Akbulatov, head of Memorial in Chechnya, told Russian news agency Itar-Tass. "She was killed because of her professional work." Prosecutors investigating the case agree, saying the murder was linked either to her work or a personal enemy...
...Indeed, Estemirova's determined efforts over the past decade to uncover and document extrajudicial killings, torture, disappearances and kidnappings in Chechnya had made her many enemies, including Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, the republic's Kremlin-backed President. She had also become a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who as President presided over the Second Chechen War, which began in 1999 and ended in 2002. (See pictures of Putin...
...research included contributions to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that accused the Chechen government of burning more than two dozen homes in punitive attacks against the families of suspected rebels. She also exposed the recent summary public execution of a young suspected separatist by a security officer in Chechnya. On the day of her murder, a 600-page report that she had helped research was released by Russian human-rights groups. The report exhaustively documents atrocities committed by all sides during the two Chechen wars and concludes that there is sufficient evidence to demand that Putin, among other officials...
...fellow at the National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies. "It is their entry point for Middle East politics. It's a country they don't want to upset." Equally, Iran has cultivated Russia. The mullahs have supported Islamist insurgencies from Lebanon to Bosnia, but not in Chechnya, from which Iran has stayed away, in deference to Russian interests. (See the top 10 Ahmadinejad-isms...