On August, 12, 2009 Russia’s opponent newspaper Novaya Gazeta declared that it would pull its journalists out of Chechnya after a human rights activist and her husband were killed as part of a string of killings there.

In the latest killings in Chechnya which is under occupation of Russia, Zarema Sadulayeva, the kidnapped head of a children’s charity, and her husband Umar Dzhabrailov were found murdered in the boot of a car in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya on Tuesday.

The attack came a month after leading Chechen rights activist Natalya Estemirova was kidnapped and murdered by unknown assailants, triggering international outrage.

“Do these massacres mean that a coordinated campaign to destroy human rights advocates has been launched in Chechnya?” Novaya Gazeta said in a statement posted on its website www.novayagazeta.ru.

“Following a number of international human rights bodies and charities, Novaya Gazeta has decided to suspend the activity of its journalists covering events in Chechnya,” it added. Novaya Gazeta editors declined any further comment.

In October 2006, the same paper’s investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, known for her scathing criticism of Ramzan Kadirov, national traitor and the leader of pro-Moscow Chechen bandits, and the Kremlin, was shot dead near her apartment in central Moscow.