Moscow: debaters disappointed by ECtHR's decision on Estemirova's murder case

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has failed to find Russia responsible for the death of Natalia Estemirova due to political reasons, human rights defenders assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 31, the ECtHR, while recognizing the absence of an efficient inquiry into Natalia Estemirova's murder, awarded compensation to her sister for moral harm in the amount of 20,000 euros. Human rights defenders have expressed regret that the ECtHR failed to treat Russia as responsible for Estemirova's death.

On August 31, in Moscow, the editorial office of the "Dozhd" (Rain) TV Company** hosted a roundtable dedicated to the ECtHR's decision on the murder of Natalia Estemirova. Oleg Orlov, a board member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"*, and Elena Milashina, a columnist for the "Novaya Gazeta", were invited to speak on air; Tatiana Glushkova, a lawyer of the HRC "Memorial"*, and Lana, the Estemirova's daughter, also spoke via a video link.

Tatiana Glushkova has welcomed the ECtHR's ruling "with an offense, seeing violations." "The decision has upset and shocked ... The ECtHR has failed to analyze in any way that Natalia received threats. The ECtHR has also ignored the information about kidnapping people in Chechnya," Ms Glushkova has stated.

According to Elena Milashina, a journalist, the ECtHR's decision is also dangerous. "The ECtHR has given a naive argument that it failed to find state agents guilty of the murder, pointing out that it is not clear whether these people were militaries, law enforcers or not; it asked a question: maybe they were militants? In this case, what prevents the state to hire drunken guys to beat Orlov and me up? The Investigating Committee will not investigate," Ms Milashina said.

The reason why the ECtHR is "extremely cautious, fearful and even cowardly" about claims from Russia lies in the fact that the Russian Federation "resorts to pressure and blackmail in the Council of Europe," while "no one wants to exclude Russia from there," Oleg Orlov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent after the broadcast.

The case has political weight; and the greater it is, the more "concrete evidence is needed for the ECtHR to find the state guilty," Ms Glushkova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

*The organization has been included by the Russian Ministry of Justice into the register of the non-commercial organizations (NCOs) performing the functions of a foreign agent.

**The edition has been included by the Russian Ministry of Justice into the register of the mass media performing the functions of foreign agents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 1, 2021 at 01:41 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.