The tragic and shocking assassination of Natalia Estemirova last week has momentarily stalled the West's growing complacency over Russia's continuing legacy of authoritarianism and violence in the North Caucasus. In the week since her death, Western news outlets have once again begun to question the nature of power in the region and the appalling human rights record of its rulers. It is well known that press freedoms in Russia are strangled by state monopolies and the intimidation of independent journalists. But in the North Caucasus this intimidation has been pursued to a deadly extent. Over the past year the Russian security services have been systematically shutting down all sources of independent information in the region, culminating with the murder of Estemirova. At the time of her death, Estemirova was pursuing the case of numerous extra-judicial killings committed by local police in Chechnya, none of whom have been brought to justice for their crimes. A brave and outspoken activist, Estemirova was famous for drawing attention to the human rights abuses of the Russian state and, in particular, the repressive regime of Chechnya's warlord president, Ramzan Kadyrov. She has tragically followed the fate of other colleagues who also attempted to question these authorities, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, murdered in 2006, and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, assassinated earlier this year. And these are only the most high profile. The litany of editors and reporters across the North Caucuses who have been abused at the hands of the authorities, including the owner of the independent Ingushetia.org website who was killed in police custody in August last year, highlights the extreme bravery of those who, like Estemirova, have continued to attempt to make the voice of justice heard.

With such widespread repression, independent sources of information are all but non-existent in the region. Kidnappings continue on a daily basis, with Memorial, the human rights group for whom Estemirova worked in Grozny, reporting at least six abductions by unnamed authorities in the days since her death. Extra-judicial killings are carried out with little concern for the rule of law by the authorities. What is this, if not an authoritarian state? Whilst President Medvedev expressed his outrage at the killing of Natalia Estemirova, Kadyrov has been given a free hand by the Russian state to maintain ‘peace' in Chechnya by any means. The result, to the shame of the Russian administration who have tacitly condoned this situation and the Western powers who have failed to address it, has been the enormous loss that Estemirova's death will be for all of us. Now that this tragedy has brought attention back to the troubled region, we must not let the world look away again before Chechnya's authoritarian and repressive pseudo-state has been removed for good and democracy, rule of law and human rights have been restored.

Ivar Amundsen

Director, Chechnya Peace Forum