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Dear
Friends,
This week, ABC News reported on Friday
26th February that: "Russian officials say they have identified
the killer of well-known human rights activist Natalya Estemirova,
abducted last summer outside her home in Chechnya's capital
Grozny...Colleagues at Estemirova's former human rights group, Memorial,
are sceptical about there being a breakthrough."
Following up on the same story, the next day, Saturday 27th February,
Reuters reported that: "A media rights watchdog on Saturday urged
Russia to publish details of its probe into the murder of a rights worker
after the Russian press reported that suspects had been identified."
Russia Today reported that: "The Investigative Committee of Russia's
Prosecutor General Office has created a special subdivision in Chechnya
that would deal solely with the region's curse: abductions and people
going missing."
Paul Goble, analyst and writer on Eurasia, has posted an article on his
blog about 'GONGOs - Government Organised Non-Governmental
Organisations', writing that: "Ever more non-governmental
organizations are appearing in Russia, but an increasing number of them
are 'pseudo-NGOs,' set up by the government as a means of undercutting
genuine activist organizations or of funneling money to individuals and
groups favored by the government"
The Eurasia Daily Monitor features an article titled: "Moscow
suddenly outlaws Caucasus Emirate", writing that: "A number of
observers were initially puzzled by the decision of the Russian Supreme
Court, because the Caucasus Emirate's creation was announced by the North
Caucasus insurgents' leader, Doku Umarov, in October 2007. Even the
principal coordinator of the fight with the insurgents in Chechnya, Adam
Delimkhanov, could not help saying: 'It is strange that Umarov's
organization [the Caucasus Emirate] has been recognized as terrorist only
now. As if they were not terrorists before'".
Finally, Radio Free Europe reports that prominent Russian human rights
activist Sergei Kovalyov marked his 80th birthday on Tuesday 2nd March,
saying that: "Kovalyov was a major opponent of Russian military
involvement in Chechnya, and worked as a journalist in the Chechen
capital, Grozny, during the First Chechen War."
[ Director's blog
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