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List of murdered defenders of human rights Zarema Sadulayeva and Umar Sadulayev, murdered on 11th August 2009. Zarema Sadulayeva (born in 1974) directed from 2005 the humanitarian organisation “Let’s Save the Generation” in Grosny. She helped children and young people who were injured in the wars. She made sure that the injured could undergo life-saving operations in Russian and foreign (also German) hospitals and was a member of the Civilian Forum founded by the GfbV in Switzerland . She was abducted together with her husband from their office in Grosny on 10th August. On 11th August their bodies were found with shot wounds in the boot of their car. Andrei Kulagin, found murdered on 23rd July 2009 In the constituent republic of Karelia on the Finnish border the head of the local organisation “Justice”, Andrei Kulagin, was found dead. Colleagues surmise that Kulagin was murdered in connection with his work for a more humane penal system. Kulagin had been missing since 14th May. Natalya Estemirova , murdered on 16th July 2009 Natalya Estemirova (50) worked for the renowned human rights organisation “Memorial”. She was a friend of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006, and knew Stanislav Markelov, who was also murdered in 2009. She helped families to find missing relatives and published information on abductions and on the torture of civilians. The Chechnyan president, Ramsan Kadyrov, had personally criticised her work. Estimirova had been constantly threatened for years. In 2005 the human rights activist was conferred the Robert Schumann Medal by the EVP-ED party of the European Parliament. For her human rights work she was also given the Politkovskaya Prize. On the morning of 15th July 2009 Natalya Estemirova was abducted from her house in the Chechnyan capital Grosny and in the afternoon of the same day in a strip of woodland near the main road M29 near the village of Gasi-Yurt in Rayon Nasran of the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia [6] was found dead with several gun-shot wounds in the head and breast. Estimirova was a widow. She leaves a daughter of school age. Vyatsheslav Yaroshenko, murdered on 29th June 2009 The 63-year old journalist Vyatsheslav Yaroshenko was attacked on 30th April and beaten up. He died in Rostov-on-Don with severe head injuries. Jaroshenko worked for a newspaper in Rostov-on-Don which fights corruption in the judiciary and other public authorities. Umar Israilov , murdered on 13th January 2009 Israilov had taken part in the armed struggle of the Chechnyans and was compelled after his arrest to work for the so-called Kadyrovzy. He became one of the bodyguards of the Chechnyan President, Ramzan Kadyrov. Israilov was shot on the street in Vienna , where was living as a refugee. He had together with his father filed a complaint against Russia for torture under Kadyrov at the European Court of Human Rights. A US journalist has published this material after his death. Human rights workers surmise that Israilov had through the proofs he had collected become a danger for Kadyrov. Magomed Yevloyev, murdered on 31st August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev was a lawyer and journalist who from 2001 operated the website Ingushetia.ru which was known for its decidedly critical attitude towards the administration of the Russian constituent republic of Ingushetia under President Murat Syasikov and the Caucasus policies of the central government in Moscow . The Ingush authorities made several attempts to close the website. In the summer of 2007 Yevloyev was accused of deliberately stirring up the Caucasian ethnic groups against each other. A case against him to this effect was instigated, but in the spring of 2008 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation directed that it be dropped. In the autumn of 2007 proceedings against him had again been opened. This time Yevloyev was accused of managing the release of suspects by bringing forged evidence to show their innocence. The Ingush public prosecutor finally obtained a court order closing the website Ingushetia. ru on the grounds of extremism. The decision was ratified on 12th August 2008 by a Moscow court. The increasing pressure from the state authorities caused the editor-in-chief of the website to flee to France at the beginning of August, where she applied for political asylum. The contents of Ingushetia. ru are on a server in the USA to protect them from being seized by the Russian authorities. On 31st August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev died as a result of a shot to the head inflicted in police custody. Yevloyev was arrested at the airport of the Ingush capital Magas on arrival together with the Ingush president, Murat Syasikov. It is reported that a fierce argument took place during the flight between the two. Gaji Adashilov, murdered 22nd March 2008 In the Russian constituent republic of Dagestan in the north Caucasus the head of the state radio and TV network, Gaji Adashilov, was shot in front of a shop in the capital, Machatshkala. Ilyas Sharpayev, murdered on 21st March 2008 Sharpayev was well-known as a reporter on the First Channel of the State TV network with reports on the Caucasus and sometimes critical accounts of the procedure of the local authorities. On 21st March 2008 Sharpayev was stabbed in his house and strangled with a belt. Just a few hours before his death he had commented in his blog on the withdrawal of his column by the Dagestan newspaper Nastoyashtoye Vremya (Our Time) and the inclusion in a “black list” of undesirable journalists by the newspaper with the sentence: “Now I am a dissenter!” The editor-in-chief denied the existence of such lists. Anna Politkovskaya, murdered on 7th October 2006 The well-known Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was honoured by several international prizes, made a name for herself by her reports on the war in Chechnya . Unsparingly she uncovered crimes and so the Kremlin had their sights on her. The present president of Chechnya , Ramzan Kadyrov, criticised her sharply and held her personally responsible for violations of human rights like torture. She helped many individuals who had been victims of the violence in Chechnya . On 7th October 2006 she was shot in her house in Moscow by unknown persons. Stanislav Markelov, murdered on 19th January 2009 The lawyer Stanislav Markelov founded the NGO “Rule of Law Institute”. He acted for his clients at Russian courts and also at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strassburg. His political location he described as social democrat. He defended Chechnyans who had been victims of the Russian military, and was often in Grosny. He was also well- known for being the legal adviser of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya. She praised Markelov as “the first lawyer to work in Chechnya and to protect the rights of the inhabitants”. Markelov received threats especially for his activity in the case of the army colonel Budanov. This person was given a sentence in the year 2003 of ten years imprisonment for the murder of the 18-year old Chechnyan woman Cheda Kungayeva. He was then the highest-ranking officer to be held responsible for crimes in the Chechnyan war. Markelov was shot in broad daylight in Moscow . The journalist Baburova tried to stop the criminals and was also shot shortly afterwards. Anastasia Baburova, murdered on 19th January 2009 The young journalist was doing practical work training at the Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the regime. She worked for human rights and attacked fascism, belonging to the anarchist organisation Avtonomnoye Deistviye. The main subject in her work was reporting on the neo-Nazi scene in Russia . She had published several articles on racism and ultra- nationalism in Russia . Baburova wrote about skinhead groups and worked together with colleagues of the “Novaya Gazeta” on research which has not yet been published. She accompanied the human rights lawyer Markelov to his press conference on the release of Colonel Budanov. When the shots fell on Markelow she tried to stop the attackers. Herself injured by shots she was admitted hospital, where she died. Her parents, friends and colleagues there bid farewell to the 25-year old, who had just begun her practical work on the “ Novaya Gazeta”. Murad Muradov , murdered in 2005 Murad Muradov was the predecessor of Sarema Sadulayeva in the organisation “Let’s Save the Generation”, which cared for Chechnyan children injured in the war. He was abducted and finally found dead. His body had clear marks of torture. Paul Klebnikov , murdered on 9th July 2004 Klebnikov was a US American journalist and editor-in-chief and publisher of the Russian edition of “Forbes Magazine”. In his book Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism Klebnikov showed the activities of various Russian oligarchs, particularly of Boris Berezovsky and provided information on his dubious rise after the collapse of the Soviet Union . His second and last book Conversation with a Barbarian was published in 2003 and dealt with interviews which Klebnikov had conducted with the Chechnyan rebel leader and former Moscow underworld boss Hozh-Ahmed Nukhaev. Klebnikov was shot by two unknown assailants in front of the building of the Russian Forbes Magazine in Moscow . Nikolai Girenko , murdered 19th June 2004 The 64-year old ethnologist and member of the research staff at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Nikolai Girenko was shot in St. Petersburg by unknown assailants. As an expert on crimes with a racist background.he was regularly called by the public prosecutor of St. Petersburg as an expert in cases against neo-Nazi groups. Nikolai Girenko also worked for the organisation “Memorial”, “Citizens’ Control” and for the network of Russian NGOs against racism, xenophobia and intolerance.