Just how credible are Mr.Putin and Mr. Kadyrov?

On October 7, 2006, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered outside her apartment in Moscow because she was a critic of the Kremlin and its unmitigated support of the Chechen president Ramzan A. Kadyrov.

Three men were charged with the murder of Ms. Politkovskaya but on February 19, 2009, were unanimously acquitted by a Moscow jury. On June 25, 2009 the Russian supreme Court overturned the ruling and ordered a new trial. The alleged killer has never been charged and is still believed to be in hiding.

Almost three years after this heinous crime has been committed the killers are still free and yet Russia is believed to be a democracy based on the rule of law. The country has joined the international community of nations and president Obama has just recently finished a state visit with his Russian counterpart president Medvedev.

On Wednesday another devoted journalist was shoved into the back of a car as she left her apartment in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, to turn up eight hours later with fatal gun shot wounds to her head and chest. Journalist and human rights activist Natalya Estemirova had been executed because of her work.

Chechen president Kadyrov was the main subject of journalistic investigative work by both Ms. Politkovskaya and Ms. Estemirova. He was the one who profited most from both killings by getting rid of outspoken and inconvenient critics.

Of course he denies any involvement and so do the president of Russia Medvedev and his predecessor Putin. Throughout the killings Russian leaders have always maintained their unmitigated support for Kadyrov.

Calls from the international community to streamline the investigation in bringing the killers to justice are met with phony concessions from both the presidents of Russia and Chechnya, but results have yet to follow. Almost three years after the murder on Ms. Politkovskaya her killer is still at large. There is little hope that the murder of Ms. Estemirova will be any different.