Remembering Natalia Estemirova...

Here below are portraits of Natalia Estemirova written by those fortunate enough to have known and worked with her…
There is also a tribute written by Natalia herself, one year after the murder of another fearless human rights activist, Anna Politkovskaya…
May Natalia’s daughter, Lana, 16, find solace in the admiration and respect that her mother inspired in all those who knew her well…
　
July 18, 2009
The Saturday Profile
A Fearless Activist in a Land of Thugs
By C. J. CHIVERS
NATALYA ESTEMIROVA is gone now. Her executioners forced her into a car in front of her home in Chechnya and sped away with her on Wednesday morning. She managed to shout that she was being kidnapped, her last known words documenting the beginning of the crimes against her, just as she had documented crimes against uncountable others.
Her killers worked quickly, as if on orders. They drove to a remote place, shot her and left her near the road, killing her in exactly the manner her friends had long feared would be her fate. Her purse was nearby. Her killers did not want it. This crime was about something else (more)…NYT
　
Another Voice Silenced in Russia
By Tanya LokshinaFriday, July 17, 2009
MOSCOW -- They found the body of my friend Natalya Estemirova on Wednesday. She had been abducted by unidentified men that morning in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, where she lived and worked as a human rights defender. She was seen being bundled into a sedan and was heard calling out, "I'm being kidnapped!" Calls to her cellphone went unanswered all day; she missed several important meetings, including one at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and she failed to pick up her daughter as scheduled at 2:30 p.m.(more)…WP
　
The Courage of Anna Politkovskaya
By Natalya Estemirova
October 4, 2007
Editor's Note: On the first anniversary of the murder of crusading Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemirova, of the Russian human rights group Memorial, tells a harrowing story about Politkovskaya's confrontation in Chechnya with the notorious Sergey Lapin, a police official responsible for the imprisonment, torture and murder of Chechen civilians. She received the first annual award commemorating Politkovskya's work from the international human rights group RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War) in London October 5.
Natalya Estemirova, an activist with the international human rights group Memorial, was awarded the first annual Anna Politkovskaya Award by the international human rights group RAW in WAR in London October 5. (more)…The Nation

(the photograph taken at Natalia Estemirova's funeral is by Keystone)