Source: HRO.org (info), 12/09/11 

· Human Rights Defenders · Chechnya · Victims of Conflicts 

Russian human rights defenders have submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights over the lack of progress in the investigation into the 2009 Grozny murder of Natalya Estemirova, an activist working with the Memorial Human Rights Centre. 

On Friday 9 September Memorial Human Rights Centre, the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre and the Estemirov family’s lawyer, Roman Karpinsky, submitted a joint application to the European Court in Strasbourg. The application states that the investigation into the murder of Natalya Estemirova has been “ineffective” and the European Convention on Human Rights has been violated in the course of the investigation. The human rights defenders pointed in particular to the victims’ lack of access to the materials of the case as a result of which they could not ensure that the investigation was effective, Polit.ru reports, citing Interfax. [Read more]