Estemirova: I'll spend the award money to protect victims of fabricated cases in Chechnya

Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial" in Chechnya, the laureate of the first annual world award named after Anna Politkovskaya, is going to spend the award money on legal assistance to victims of tortures and faked criminal cases in Chechnya.

The well-known human rights activist and journalist has told about it in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent after her return from London where she received the award on October 5.

According to Ms Estemirova, the awarding procedure took place in an informal and warm atmosphere in the premises of the "RAW in War" organization in the British capital. The laureate from Grozny was awarded with a figurine shaped as a dove, flying up from a tree fragment, created by a famous Bulgarian sculptor, and a modest, as she said, sum of money.

From London Natalia Estemirova made her way to Paris, where she was invited by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) to take part in the meeting in memory of Anna Politkovskaya held on October 7. Hundreds of Parisians and guests of the French capital came to pay tribute to Anna Politkovskaya's memory.

"Famous French actresses Jane Birkin and Mari-Kristin Barot spoke at the meeting. They read Anna Politkovskaya's articles and abstracts from her books. Gregory Shvedov, editor-in-chief of the "Caucasian Knot" website, addressed the audience. Then, a silence minute was announced," Ms Estemirova has narrated.

"I told the Parisians that Anna Politkovskaya raised her voice against the general trend in Russian media who kept following Putin's words that 'we should win the information war in Chechnya.' It follows that the journalists who had supported the trend got involved in murders of thousands of innocent people by promoting the crimes with their words," the Chechen human rights activist, who was Politkovskaya's friend, has stated.

After participation in the Paris action, Natalia returned to London together with Marianne Katsarova. There, they had a meeting with British parliamentarians.