UN experts offer help to solve Chechnya rights murder
AFP
GENEVA - UN human rights experts offered Tuesday to help Russia investigate the murder of activist Natalya Estemirova and criticised a failure to solve a string of killings in the country.
"We offer our assistance to the Russian authorities in light of the failure to effectively and impartially investigate the killings and attacks on a number of human rights defenders in recent years," the group of seven UN rapporteurs said.
Urgent action was needed to break a "cycle of impunity" which has meant the perpetrators of previous crimes have not been brought to justice, they added.
The experts said Russian assurances on catching Estemirova's killers meant little unless authorities investigated her murder more seriously than previous crimes.
They also pointed out Russia had a "prime responsibility" to protect human rights activists.
Estemirova, 50, was found dead last Wednesday with gunshot wounds to the head and chest hours after she was seen being bundled into a car outside her home in the Chechen capital Grozny.
She was one of Russian rights group Memorial's main employees in Chechnya and had won worldwide acclaim for uncovering rights abuses.
Her death prompted tributes from around the globe and calls on Russia to find the killers.
Estemirova was a close associate of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated in 2006 in Moscow and was also well-known for her human rights work in Chechnya.
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