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President Ilves’s commentary on the murder of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova

17.07.2009

“The investigation of this and previous political murders constitute a litmus test that demonstrates the sincerity and seriousness of the Russian government’s wish to start moving toward the establishment of a democratic state,” President Ilves said. In answer to an inquiry from the BNS news agency about the murder of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who had criticized the activities of the Russian authorities, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves stated that this is an extremely regrettable and worrisome event. “The actions of the Russian authorities in the investigation of this and previous political murders constitute a litmus test that demonstrates the sincerity and seriousness of the government’s wish to start moving toward the establishment of a democratic state that respects human rights and is based on the rule of law,” President Ilves acknowledged anxiously.

Ilves recalled that the murders of several human rights activists and journalists, such as Anna Politkovskaya, Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, in Russia have been politically motivated. “Unfortunately the Russian authorities have not been able to solve any of these murders, and even worse, have not paid any substantive attention to the topics to which the murder victims sought to call attention; that is, the lack of the freedoms of expression, thought and religion, especially in Chechnya. This fact cannot be ignored by democratic countries in their relations with Russia,” President Ilves said.


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