natalya-estemirova

Please join us for a free public event examining the killing of Natalya Estemirova, a journalist who exposed human rights crimes in Chechnya. Estemirova was kidnapped in the Chechen capital of Grozny in July 2009 and subsequently murdered.

The event, which features readings by Salman Rushdie and other prominent writers, will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

For more information please visit our events page.

We were only 30 on Friday: representatives of human rights organizations, a few journalists and academics, a couple of anonymous "concerned citizens." Standing on the Place de la Liberté (Freedom Square) in Brussels two blocks from the Parliament, a few meters away from a police team that had asked us to limit ourselves to a "static demonstration," we held pictures of Natalya Estemirova and roses. A few journalists--the Belgian news agency, Reuters Television, a community TV station--were filming the scene. Scores of people were walking by on their way from lunch back to office work.

New York, July 15, 2009--Today's brutal murder of prominent journalist and human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, at left, in Chechnya must be thoroughly investigated immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

Estemirova, 50, was abducted this morning in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, as she was leaving her apartment for work, Reuters reported. She was found shot in the head and the chest in the neighboring region of Ingushetia at around 5 p.m., according to international news reports.