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This week Zarema “Rayana” Sadulayeva Abdulievna and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov were brutally murdered in Chechnya, an autonomous and unstable republic within the Russian Federation.
My stomach turned and I felt sickened when the news of Rayana's killing appeared in my email inbox. While I never knew her personally, she was a work contact of mine and I had corresponded with her by email only a couple weeks ago.
Rayana ran a local children's charity in Chechnya that had provided support to children with disabilities and kids traumatized by the decade and a half of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced many more. She was also a vocal advocate for survivors of landmine and unexploded ordnance explosions.
She and her husband were abducted from the offices of her nonprofit organization – Let's Save the Generation – on Monday and were found dead in the trunk of their car on Tuesday.
It is not clear yet who killed Rayana and Alik, but theirs was the latest in a string of high-profile murders of human rights activists in the Russian Federation generally, and Chechnya in particular. Only last month, one of Chechnya's most prominent human rights activists, Natalia Estemirova, was also assassinated.
The international community has roundly condemned both Estemirova's killing and the deaths of Rayana and Alik.
“This is a ghastly crime, and its authors must be brought to justice,” said Holly Cartner of Human Rights Watch. “These killings, less than a month after the murder of Natalia Estemirova, make it absolutely clear that anyone trying to help the people of Chechnya is in mortal danger.”
That someone so committed to the welfare of children and persons with disabilities could be so callously snuffed out is horrifying to me. Whenever I come across her emails in my inbox, I just can't believe she will never send another one.
Russian and Chechen authorities must do everything they can to ensure an independent investigation into these murders and bring an end to the impunity that is strangling any free speech in the country. Unfortunately, the trend of recent events suggests that any such political commitment from Russian and Chechen governmental bodies is highly unlikely.
As the Obama administration begins to formulate a new foreign policy towards Russia, it should support Russian human rights and democracy activists, whose lives are growing more dangerous every week.
While Russia is powerful and has important oil resources, we cannot afford to allow those flickering lights of freedom to be snuffed out by the reactionary and criminal elements that are tightening their control over the Russian political and economic system.
This week Zarema “Rayana” Sadulayeva Abdulievna and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov were brutally murdered in Chechnya, an autonomous and unstable republic within the Russian Federation.
My stomach turned and I felt sickened when the news of Rayana's killing appeared in my email inbox. While I never knew her personally, she was a work contact of mine and I had corresponded with her by email only a couple weeks ago.
Rayana ran a local children's charity in Chechnya that had provided support to children with disabilities and kids traumatized by the decade and a half of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced many more. She was also a vocal advocate for survivors of landmine and unexploded ordnance explosions.
She and her husband were abducted from the offices of her nonprofit organization – Let's Save the Generation – on Monday and were found dead in the trunk of their car on Tuesday.
It is not clear yet who killed Rayana and Alik, but theirs was the latest in a string of high-profile murders of human rights activists in the Russian Federation generally, and Chechnya in particular. Only last month, one of Chechnya's most prominent human rights activists, Natalia Estemirova, was also assassinated.
The international community has roundly condemned both Estemirova's killing and the deaths of Rayana and Alik.
“This is a ghastly crime, and its authors must be brought to justice,” said Holly Cartner of Human Rights Watch. “These killings, less than a month after the murder of Natalia Estemirova, make it absolutely clear that anyone trying to help the people of Chechnya is in mortal danger.”
That someone so committed to the welfare of children and persons with disabilities could be so callously snuffed out is horrifying to me. Whenever I come across her emails in my inbox, I just can't believe she will never send another one.
Russian and Chechen authorities must do everything they can to ensure an independent investigation into these murders and bring an end to the impunity that is strangling any free speech in the country. Unfortunately, the trend of recent events suggests that any such political commitment from Russian and Chechen governmental bodies is highly unlikely.
As the Obama administration begins to formulate a new foreign policy towards Russia, it should support Russian human rights and democracy activists, whose lives are growing more dangerous every week.
While Russia is powerful and has important oil resources, we cannot afford to allow those flickering lights of freedom to be snuffed out by the reactionary and criminal elements that are tightening their control over the Russian political and economic system.
