'There is State Terror in Russia'

MOSCOW, Russia, July 16, 2009— -- In the wake of the brutal slaying of Russian human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, colleagues have blasted the Russian government for not doing enough to protect rights workers in Russia.

One called the routine threats to activists "state terror" and another accused Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of being partially responsible for Estemirova's murder.

"Let's call things what they are, there is state terror in Russia," said Oleg Orlov, the head of Memorial, Estemirova's organization.

Orlov, along with many others, accuse 32 year-old Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov and his forces of being behind the murder. Kadyrov is a notoriously brutal leader, a former warlord who is backed by the Kremlin and suspected in the murders of several other rights activists.

"We know about killings in Chechnya and beyond. Those who try to speak the truth and criticize power are killed. Authorities on all levels threatened Natasha [Estemirova's nickname] more than once, but she couldn't see herself not working in her homeland, in Chechnya."

Alekseeva Ludmila, a famous activist who heads of The Moscow Helsinki Group, went a step further, saying of Putin and the Chechen president he selected, Ramzan Kadyrov, "I blame both of them for involvement in the killing."

Putin's spokesman denied the accusation, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who was said to be "outraged" by the murder, rejected the accusations of Kadyrov's involvement.

"Those who committed this wrongdoing did so precisely in order to hear instantly the theories which are the most primitive and unacceptable for the authorities," Medvedev said in a press conference in Munich.

For his part, Kadyrov has promised to bring the killers to justice and said that those accusing him are trying to discredit Chechnya and Ingushetia, where Estemirova's body was found.