On 15 July 2009, Ms. Natalia Estemirova, a social worker and human rights advocate with the Russian NGO Memorial Human Rights Center was abducted and murdered by unknown assailants. According to a Human Rights Watch report Ms. Estemirova was forced into a white van as she left her apartment in Grozny at 8:30 in the morning. Her body was later found on a roadside in Ingushetia with two gunshot wounds to the head.



Read the BBC’s obituary for Ms. Estimirova for more on the life and work of this award-winning champion of human rights.

Tags: Russia, Death of aid worker