MOSCOW, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - Investigators hope they will have a chance to put questions to some staff members of the office of the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Refugees in the North Caucasus and some human rights activists over the murder of human rights campaigner Natalya Estemirova, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin has told ITAR-TASS.
“There are plans for questioning some members of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ office in the North Caucasus, who may have information about Estemirova’s activities that is of interest to us. That would be possible on the condition of consent from the UN Secretariat, though. Also, investigators plan to put questions to a number of human rights organizations registered in the territory of the Chechen republic, who may know something important to the criminal case,” he said.
“Also, I would like to address those members of human rights organizations who are often critical of the investigation. If such critics have at their disposal some impartial facts about that crime, IC investigators will be prepared to listen to them and check what they say,” Markin said.
Regrettably, so far the investigators have not got anything from them except for groundless allegations in the media, Markin said.
Natalia Estemirova was abducted near her house in Grozny on July 15, 2009. He body was found on the same day 100 meters from the Kavkaz highway near the village of Gazi-Yurt, Ingushetia. Th investigators believe the crime was committed in connection with Estemirova's professional activity and with the view of unsettling the situation in Ingushetia and Chechnya.