16 Jul 2009

Russian human rights activist found dead

12:58 pm on 16 July 2009

A prominent Russian human rights activist, Natalia Estemirova, has been found dead in the North Caucasus.

A colleague says she was bundled into a van and abducted as she left her home in Chechnya on Wednesday morning.

According to the interior ministry, her body was later found in neighbouring Ingushetia with wounds to the head.

Ms Estemirova had been investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya for the Memorial group.

Her killing echoes the murder of a prominent journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, in 2006.