Estemirova, Sadulayeva and her husband were killed by same gunmen, Chechen NGOs believe

Kidnapping and subsequent murder in July of the well-known Chechen human rights defender, employees of the HRC "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova and a similar later crime against the leader of the youth public organization "Let's Save the Generation" Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov could be accomplished by one and the same group. This is the opinion of some Chechen NGOs, which are convinced that true organizers and customers of these murders will be never punished.

"The investigation of the criminal cases on kidnappings and murders of Natalia Estemirova, Zarema Sadulayeva and Alik Dzhabrailov goes on. Unfortunately, we have no reasons to speak about any serious successes in this process. The reason is that the witnesses of the incidents fear for their life and are hesitant to evidence. Nevertheless, the investigation goes on; there is some progress, but still, it's too little," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a source in local law enforcement bodies.

Meanwhile, some colleagues and friends of Estemirova, Sadulayeva and Dzhabrailov do not exclude that these crimes could be accomplished by one and the same group of criminals. They are also sure that the executions of the human rights defender and NGO activists had demonstrative character and pursued the only aim - to intimidate the critics of the current authorities.

"Same as my colleagues, I've noticed a remarkable detail in the murders of Natasha Estemirova, Zarema Sadulayeva and Alik Dzhabrailov. In all the three cases, the gunmen made two shots in the head and three shots in the heart. It's obviously one and the same manner. That is, we can say that in all the cases same persons could act; and it was an obvious demonstration with the aim of intimidation. I don't know, whether the investigation has paid attention to these details; but I'm sure that the murders of Natasha, Zarema and Alik are interconnected," said the leader of one of Chechen NGOs.

Another Chechen human rights activist, who also asked not to disclose his name, is sure that the murders of Estemirova, Sadulayeva and Dzhabrailov will not be solved, at least in the foreseeable future. "We can hope to know the truth, only if absolutely different people come to power in Chechnya. Otherwise, it'll last and protract for long, until Russia and the world just forget about these murders," he said.

See earlier reports: "Human rights activists: in Northern Caucasus, power agents act more and more like "death squadrons"," "Chechnya holds commemoration of perished human rights activists and journalists," "Estemirova's killers not established, witnesses fear to evidence."