Human rights activists told Medvedev that the investigation of Estemirova’s murder was on a false scent

During a meeting of members of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights with the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev they handed him a report with their own estimation of the investigation in process on Natalia Estemirova’s murder.

“This is our report stating that the investigation of Natasha Estemirova’s murder is on a false scent. There are three authors of the report: International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), “Memorial” Human Rights Center and “Novaya Gazeta”. I whish you to be the first of, so to say, outsiders in relation to the authors who will see the report. I hope it will to some extent assist in the authors’ safety”, Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairperson of the Committee “Civil Aid”, member of HRC “Memorial”, said and her speech was included into the transcript of the meeting placed on the web-site of the President of Russia.

In the opinion of the human rights activist, it is time to stop “using dead bodies to render an account” in Northern Caucasus, “there should be an account of people who returned to normal life, who received aid in organizing this normal life, who feel care taken of them instead of being accused of a crime they have never committed”. “We think today’s form of struggle against terrorism is not only inefficient, it is counter-productive”, she declared.

Chairman of National Anti-Terrorist Committee Kirill Kabanov spoke about the components of the terror menace to the country in his report. He pointed out that nowadays “the main structure of command authority of armed underground and gangster’s military groups has changed and now “the majority of them are ordinary criminals whose purpose is just their personal enrichment”.

Director of the Institute of Human Rights Valentin Gefter analyzed “modernization of resistance to extreism, certainly, first of carried out by law enforcement bodies”. “The danger of explicit threats and criminal actions against the basis of the constitutional system is evident to all of us. But if we speak about something beside terrorism I think violent crimes on the grounds of hate are most significant in this respect”, he said.

Dmitry Medvedev himself closing the meeting emphasized that the participants’ reports gave “at least evidence of the fact that we do have problems and the problems are significant”. Medvedev said he was ready to support many of the initiatives suggested at the meeting.