The well-known human rights defenders from all around of the world have published a statement on the murder of Maksharip Aushev.

The statement:

We, the undersigned, express our indignation at the insolent murder of a famous public figure, owner of Internet-portal Ingushetia.org, Maksharip Aushev.

Aushev protested openly against gross violations of human rights in the North Caucasus – abductions, tortures, extrajudicial executions, fabrication of criminal cases, facts of unprecedented corruption in Ingushetia. After his son and nephew had been abducted, Aushev organized civil actions resulting in the release of men. Aushev also managed to reveal a secret prison in the village of Goity in Chechnya where his son and nephew had been beaten and tortured. Evidence suggests that this is the very prison where many who were abducted in Ingushetia were held. Then most of the abducted disappeared. Aushev became the leader of a strong protest movement in Ingushetia that lead to the resignation of Murat Zyazikov’s corrupt, repressive and non-effective government. Maksharip had been threatened on multiple occasions, and a month before the murder, unknown militants in armoured vehicles tried to abduct him.

We express our condolences to the family and friends of Maksharip.

We demand from the Russian authorities to investigate this murder effectively and to make those who ordered and executed it, regardless of their status, answer for the crime.

We call on the leaders of the Russian Federation to end the current situation where cynical crimes remain unsolved, and where human rights activists as well as public figures who criticize the actions of officials and law enforcement authorities are persecuted and murdered.

Robert Hardh, Civil Rights Defenders
Oksana Chelysheva, Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, Finland
Magomed Mutsolgov, Human rights organization “MASHR ”
Oleg Orlov, Human Rights Center “Memorial”
Barbara Pakhomenko, human rights activist, Moscow
Lipkhan Bazayeva, “Women’s Dignity”, Chechnya
Neil Hicks, Human Rights First, USA
Madina Magomadova, “Mothers of Chechnya ” Association
Paulina Kluge, Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
Anna Ek, Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
Steven Assies, Press New
Bissarion Aseev, human rights activist, Beslan
Ella Asoyan, Freedom House, USA
Akhmed Gisayev, Human Rights Center “Memorial”
Usam Baysayev, Human Rights Center “Memorial”
Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Human Rights Center “Memorial”
Roemer Lemaitre, Legal Initiative in Russia
Andrei Yurov, International Youth Human Rights Movement
Maria Chitchenkova, Front Line
Tatyana Kasatkina, Human Rights Center “Memorial”
Svetlana Isaeva, Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights
Martin Uggla, Östgruppen
Sofia Uggla, Östgruppen
Jane Barry, Researcher
Arsen Sakalov, Legal Initiative in Russia
Joanna Kurosz, Civil Rights Defenders
Erik Esbjörnson, Civil Rights Defenders
Peter Öholm, Civil Rights Defenders
Ella Kesaeva “Voice of Beslan”
Larisa Dorogova, Committee “Mothers of Kabardino-Balkaria “