Indignation following the assassination of two more human rights defenders in Chechnya

On August 10, 2009 at around 2 pm, Mrs. Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Mr. Alek (Umar) Dzhabrailov were kidnapped in the organisation's premises by two armed men in plain clothes who urged the couple to follow them and took them away in a grey “Zhiguli” car registered in the Chechen Republic. Shortly after the abduction, the two men returned to the organisation's office and took Mr. Dzhabrailov's mobile phone and car.

On August 11, 2009 in the morning, the two bodies of the defenders were found with gunshot wounds in the neck and chest, in the trunk of Mr. Dzhabrailov's car, which was parked a dozen meters from the entrance of the NGO on Mansurova Avenue, in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny.

The Observatory vehemently condemns this double assassination, which is representative of the ongoing climate of repression and impunity faced by human rights defenders in the Russian Federation. The Observatory indeed recalls that over the past months, several human rights defenders have been killed, especially those involved in Chechen issues. The Observatory points out in particular that the tragic assassination of Mrs. Sadulayeva and her husband occurred just a month after Ms. Natalia Estemirova, member of the Human Rights Centre “Memorial”, was kidnapped and killed in the Caucasus.

“Save the Generation” is a Chechen NGO founded in 2001 and which provides psychological and physical rehabilitation to disabled children, orphans and other socially vulnerable groups and victims of landmines. The former Head of the organisation, Mr. Murad Muradov, disappeared after being arrested during a mop-up operation (“zachistka”) on April 15, 2005. At the end of February 2006, his barely recognisable corpse had been remitted to his family.

The Observatory calls upon the Russian authorities to order an immediate, thorough, effective, impartial and transparent investigation into Mrs. Zarema Sadulayeva’s and Mr. Dzhrabrailov's assassinations, the result of which must be made public, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law.

The Observatory also calls upon the Russian authorities to guarantee the protection of all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, in conformity with relevant international and regional human rights instruments, to ensure that an end be put against all acts of harassment or attacks against human rights defenders in the country and that the defence of human rights has not become a deadly activity.

For further information, please contact:

• FIDH: Gaël Grilhot, + 33 1 43 55 25 18
• OMCT: Delphine Reculeau, + 41 22 809 49 39