Will There Be Justice in the Murder of Russian Activist?

ABC's Alexander Marquardt reports from Moscow: Many had hoped Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's swift condemnation of the murder of human rights activist Natalya Estmirivoa would mean this time would be different. The killers would be caught, tried and convicted for a crime against someone who spoke out for justice. Monday, Estimirova's former organization — Memorial — admitted they think this time will be no different. "Unfortunately, we do not believe that the true perpetrators and masterminds of the killing will be found," Memorial’s Svetlana Gannushkina told the Interfax news agency.   Gannushkina also complained that the investigative authorities aren’t keeping her group up to date on the latest developments in the case. "Nobody is informing us, including about the crime theories. The investigators had them from the very start, and some of them were very stupid," she said. The head of the Investigation Committee in the prosecutor’s office says potential suspects have been identified but no one has yet been arrested. "As far as this case is concerned, we have a number of possible suspects who, in our opinion, could have been interested in the implementation of this criminal plan. But no people have been detained," Alexander Bastrykin told Interfax. Several of Estemirova’s human rights colleagues wrote an open letter to Medvedev last Thursday, imploring him to set up an independent investigation at the federal level because Estemirova had regularly criticized local officials for abusing human rights. "Estemirova's murder cannot be investigated objectively by local law enforcement agencies, because these agencies were often cited in Estemirova's files in connection with human rights abuses," the letter reads.   Estemirova was kidnapped from her home in Chechnya’s capital of Grozny the morning of July 15. That afternoon she was discovered in neighboring Ingushetia with several bullet wounds. Immediately following news of Estemirova’s death an interview with the director of Memorial, Oleg Orlov, was posted on the group’s website in which he directly accused the Kremlin-backed president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, of her murder. Kadyrov vehemently denied the accusation, saying the crime had been committed to discredit Chechnya and Ingushetia in the eyes of the international community. He later filed a slander suit against Orlov. Memorial has since suspended its work in Chechnya are unsure if or when they will resume their operation. "Now we have to think how to work in a new way. We have to evaluate our risks,” said Gannushkina. “Such killings of our staff members are unacceptable. We will consider the technical issues relating to our work in the Northern Caucasus." Just a week after Estemirova was murdered, the body of another human rights activist, Andrei Kulagin, was discovered a quarry more than two months after his May 14 disappearance. Unlike Estemirova, he had been working in the Karelia region, about 600 miles north of Moscow. A vigil for Estemirova in Moscow last Thursday that drew around 200 was broken up by police. The organizer was arrested along with about 15 others.