Human rights defenders came together for Natalya at an event which name is “Bearing Witness in Chechnya: The Legacy of Natalya Estemirova”.

PEN American Center – one of the world’s oldest literary and human rights organizations – joined forces with the Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), CUNY’s School of Journalism, and WITNESS to pay tribute to Natalya Estemirova, the award-winning Chechen human rights activist and journalist murdered on July 15, 2009, while she was working on extremely sensitive cases of human rights abuses in Chechnya.

On 29 October 2009, in New York city of U.S., the tribute – a free public event – featured readings and conversations to honor the legacy of Estemirova, while calling attention to concerns of freedom of expression in the provinces of the North Caucasus and Russia. Salman Rushdie (Best of Booker winning author, former PEN president), Michael Arena (former investigative reporter), Keith Gessen (co-editor-in-chief of n+1), Tanya Lokshina (Researcher at Human Rights Watch), Elena Milashina (journalist for Novaya Gazeta), and Zarema Mukusheva (filmmaker, human rights activist for Memorial, Grozny, Chechnya) were participated the event. And Ann Cooper, Professor at The Journalism School of Columbia University, moderated it.

Audio file of the full event is available HERE.

Photo gallery of the event is available on Flickr.

Micheal Arena reads from Natalya Estemirova’s article: “Thousands of Executioners at Large”

Salman Rushdie reads from Natalya Estemirova’s article: “Wild Garlic Gatherers”

Tanya Lokshina reads from Natalya Estemirova’s article: “Men’s Revenge”

Keith Gessen discusses Anna Politkovskaya’s murder trial

Salman Rushdie reads from Natalya Estemirova’s acceptance speech for the Anna Politkovskaya Award