Committee against Torture resumes work in Grozny

The Russian human rights organization Committee against Torture, whose office in Grozny was destroyed by unknown assailants on June 3, will resume work in a new location, the former apartment of Natalya Estemirova, an employee of the Memorial human rights NGO, who was kidnapped and murdered in Chechnya in 2009.

According to Committee against Torture head Igor Kalyapin, as quoted by the Interfax news agency, this option was offered by Estemirova’s daughter, who now lives in Europe.

On June 3, a group of unidentified armed with crowbars and hammers attacked the office and apartment of employees of Committee against Torture in Grozny.

In late 2014, the office of the Joint Mobile Group, a human rights group working under the auspices of Committee against Torture, was burned by unknown attackers.

In connection with the attack on Committee against Torture’s Grozny office, the Russian Human Rights Council sent letters to the heads of the Interior Ministry, the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office.