Estemirova murder: Kadyrov blamed

The 32-year-old strongman who runs Chechnya, President Ramzan Kadyrov, claimed "I don't kill women" when he was implicated in the 2006 murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. No one in the field of human rights believed him, and today he is again the obvious suspect according to campaigners mourning the death of Politkovskaya's friend Natalia Estemirova.

Oleg Orlov, chairman of Memorial, the Russian human rights group for whom Estemirova worked in the Chechen capital Grozny, documenting abuses by law enforcement agencies, said yesterday: "I know, I am sure of it, who is guilty for the murder of Natalia... His name is Ramzan Kadyrov."

In a statement posted on Memorial's website, www.memo.ru, he claimed: "Ramzan already threatened Natalia, insulted her, considered her a personal enemy."

The nature of the 50-year-old's death was brutal and unsubtle. She was dragged from her home in Grozny on Wednesday morning by four men, shouting to neighbours: "I'm being kidnapped", bundled into a van and driven off.

Hours later, her body was found dumped on the main road near the village of Gazi-Yurt in neighbouring Ingushetia. She had been shot twice in the head.

Estemirova, who leaves a 15-year-old daughter, was a close friend of Politkovskaya, collaborating with the journalist on several investigations into human rights abuses in Chechnya. Both were very open in their condemnation of President Kadyrov.

"Natasha was at the forefront of some of the most intense human rights investigations in Chechnya," said Allison Gill, director of Human Rights Watch in Russia. "She was targeted because of her work. I have no doubt her killing was to silence her."

Estemirova made no attempt to hide the nature of her work and her office near Putin Prospekt in Grozny - the street was renamed by Kadyrov last October - was well known.

"One of the most amazing things about Natasha is that she never stopped doing what she was doing," said Gill. "She never checked herself. She was highly public in her calls for accountability."

She is known to have been gathering evidence for Memorial of a campaign of house-burnings, kidnappings and torure by government-backed militiamen in Chechnya when she was killed.

Her assassination is a rude awakening for President Barack Obama who only last week paid his first visit to Moscow, where he met human rights activists and set out America's commitment to "universal values". Last night the White House said the US was "deeply disturbed and saddened by the... brutal slaying".

A spokesman for President Dmitry Medvedev said he was "outraged" by the murder and had ordered an investigation. But Kremlin watchers and human rights activists know the chances of anyone being brought to justice for her murder are slim. "We have a deathly silence from the authorities whenever activists, lawyers or journalists are murdered," said Gill. "Not a single person is brought to justice." ·