Fifty year old Natalia Estemirova was a human rights campaigner working with Memorial, the Russian human rights organisation which investigated human rights violations both in Chechnya and Russia. She has documented hundreds of human rights abuse in Chechnya and was a well known regional expert. She was a close friend and colleague of famous human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya and ironically met the same fate. She was shot dead in North Caucasus.

Russia-Chechnya conflict was one of the bloodiest one in the history of the world. Natalia documented civilian casualties of the second Chechen War and was even awarded for her brave work by members of European Parliament. She also received inaugural Anna Politkovskaya award instituted by Reach All Women in War Campaign group after shocking killing of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow in 2006.

She carried forward the same work with grit and determination in spite of being aware of grim and dangerous consequences. Helping the victims of war and violence was her single driving force. She was collecting evidences about house-burnings by government backed militia before she was abducted and brutally killed. Truth will reveal itself. But unfortunately many brave activists have to die while unmasking bitter realities of war and exposing government’s role in human rights abuses.

Via BBC

A famine in 1930s which killed millions of Ukrainians during Stalin era finally has a true memorial at Kiev. The famine was not due to natural reasons. The villagers were brutally starved and killed by hunger by then communist regime in Soviet Union. The memorial is a stark reminder of Stalin’s dark legacy. No amount of pressure, power could bury this simple harsh truth. All because of one man’s determination to uphold history of the period and not distort in even under pressure.

Till 1980s Soviet Union had banned all the discussions of the famine. But due to mounting international pressure Professor Kulchytsky was asked investigate reasons of the famine and concoct his findings. But he refused to conclude that famine was a natural disaster. His research findings clearly pointed to harsher truth that famine was man-made to wipe away Ukrainian dream of independence from Moscow. It was another silent genocide.

The memorial was inaugurated at Kiev in last November and is becoming one of the important pilgrimage sites. Another memorial is being built at Washington.

Via International Herald Tribune