A Call For Justice, Unanswered

As undeniably important as tactful diplomacy is in international affairs, it is equally important to remain aware of the difference between tact and timidity. Big words and tough talk can be effective in situations where diplomatic bullying would presumably avert a greater catastrophe, but justice can only be brought about by taking action and abandoning wishful thinking. The murder of Chechnyan human rights activist Natalya Estemirova should have illustrated this; but in a situation that actually gives legitimate cause for intervention, the international community has seen little more than kind words and superficial blustering on the part of major world leaders. Allowing crimes such as this to go unchecked and unchallenged can only worsen the tyranny and corruption that runs rampant in the Chechnyan bureaucracy, and we can no longer afford to conveniently ignore this in hopes that the situation will remedy itself.

It must first be recognized that Estemirova’s murder was a thinly veiled contract killing to serve President Kadyrov’s warped political agenda. Granted, no evidence has yet been brought forth to corroborate Memorial’s claim to this effect, and Kadyrov himself was quick to generate political capital by denouncing the crime, but even a cursory view of the situation provides the obvious truth. The tendency of the President’s foes to mysteriously wind up dead, in addition to the widespread torture and illegal detentions that occur with alarming frequency, reveal Kadyrov to be nothing more than an autocratic thug, an unfortunate byproduct of the same warped strain that spawned the likes of Ahmadinejad and Musharraf. There need be no puzzlement as to his motivation for ordering Estemirova’s death: power serves no purpose but that of self-preservation, and all too often it is violence that provides the most expedient means of doing so. His unconvincing display of sympathy for her death and the promise to investigate deserves neither credibility nor respect; it is far more likely that such a character tell a lie than that all rational views of the situation be mistaken.

Almost as disgraceful has been the international community’s response. While the White House offered its condolences and called on Medvedev to “bring to justice those responsible”- a phrase overused to the point of meaninglessness- the failure to act on the part of justice was accomplished by Medvedev’s inability to grasp the breadth of the situation. Ordering an investigation of the crime may have been sufficient had the crime itself been an isolated incident, and one unclear as to its motives and perpetrators; but the fact of the matter is that Estemirova’s murder is but one moment in a far greater cycle of violence, oppression and fear tactics that has occurred under Kadyrov’s administration. If such a crime makes anything clear, it should be that neither Russia nor the international community as a whole can allow such rampant infringements on human rights that have taken place in Chechnya for so long. If the Kremlin fails to recognize this, then it is merely indicative of the need for the international community to become ever more outspoken until the gravity of the situation is realized.

This is not to advocate a direct intervention on the part of the U.S., or any other nation for that matter, in removing Kadyrov and his regime from power. Chechnya remains a territory of Russia and as such it is Russia’s responsibility to handle its domestic affairs quickly and sensibly. It is, however, the responsibility of every nation to make clear to Russia that the Chechnyan situation is one that must be acted upon immediately for the sake of its own populace. The time for feeble entreaties to “bring to justice those responsible” is over; such calls for justice cannot remain idle banter around the White House and the Kremlin, as they have been for so long. If there is indeed an “Axis of Evil” present in the world today, it is beyond question that Kadyrov’s administration is an honorary member, an amoral crime syndicate that by happenstance managed to curry favor from legitimate regimes. And we owe it to the people of Chechnya to recognize this and make clear that a call for justice cannot simply be made, but must also be answered.