Alekseeva: Kadyrov's resignation can stop murders of human rights defenders

Russian human rights advocates are confident that the series of murders of the people who defend rights of other people can be stopped by removing Ramzan Kadyrov from the post of the President of Chechnya. This viewpoint was expressed by Liudmila Alekseeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group. In the opinion of Oleg Orlov, Board Chairman of the HRC "Memorial", murders will stop as soon as the authorities cease calling human rights defenders as bandits.

Today, Russian human rights activists had a meeting with journalists to discuss the murder of Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the Grozny "Memorial".

According to human rights advocates, there are several solutions to the situation when those who defend citizens' rights are murdered. In the opinion of Ms Alekseeva, one of such solutions is to permanently speak about these murders.

Another way is the "method according to our concepts. Let Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin stop patronizing Kadyrov. Let him start investigation against Kadyrov. And maybe then I believe that once we have fair justice and not law offending but law defending bodies."

In Oleg Orlov's opinion, the way out of the situation, when a series of murders is incessant, will be a point when "the state will stop presenting its critics from among human rights activists and oppositionists as bandits, or hirelings of foreign powers."

Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has stated, in his comments on Natalia Estemirova's murder that Russia creates "enclaves of permissiveness." In his opinion, Estemirova had saved plenty of people. He is sure that the imminence of punishment for this sort of crimes should be radically improved.