Zarema Sadulayeva's body was discovered with that of her husband, Alik Djibralov in the trunk of a car in the Chernorechye settlement of Grozny on Tuesday morning.

A Chechen official confirmed the killings saying that the bodies of the activists had been found with gunshot wounds.

Sadulayeva and Djibralov, who had only recently married, were seized by unidentified armed men from the offices of her Let's Save the Generation charity for young people.

Support for children in need

Human rights activists, Ludmila Alexeyeva described the crime as "unimaginable," saying that Sadulayeva "headed an NGO that saved a generation of children."

Let's Save the Generation provides medical and psychological help to young Chechens and aims to prevent them from joining armed groups in the region.

"They just helped disabled children and children from poor families," Alexeyeva said. "It just shows that anyone whose position allows them a gun can kill whoever they like."

The investigative committee of Russian prosecutors has opened a criminal enquiry into the killings, making them the latest in a growing line of unsolved crimes attracting international attention.

Accusation vs. denial

Less than a month ago a human rights activist for the group Memorial, Natalya Estemirova, was found dead on a roadside hours after her abduction in Grozny.

Following her murder, Memorial accused Chechnya's pro-Kremlin leader Ramzan Kadyrov of being behind the crime, an allegation that Kadyrov flatly denied.

Speaking to the Russian service of Radio Free Europe on Monday, he asked why he should kill a woman who was of no use to anyone. "She was without honor, merit or conscience," he said.

Kadyrov has been credited with restoring some stability to the region, which has seen two wars between Russia's central government and Chechen separatist forces, but he is far from popular with human rights activists who say he lets his personal militia kidnap and torture at will.

tkw/Reuters/dpa/AFP

Editor: Chuck Penfold