Head of HRC "Memorial" evidences in court on Kadyrov's claim

Today, in the course of the court session, where the claim of President of Chechnya against the head of the HRC "Memorial" was considered, the respondent - Oleg Orlov - presented his explanations on the case. The claim was caused by Mr Orlov's statements about Kadyrov's involvement in the murder of Natalia Estemirova, a human rights defender, who worked in Chechnya.

Andrei Krasnenkov, advocate of the President of Chechnya, said that there would be no witnesses from the part of the claimant and that Ramzan Kadyrov would not take part in the litigation.

Oleg Orlov proved that Kadyrov bears political guilt for the death of Estemirova, an employee of the Grozny office of the "Memorial". In his opinion, the power agencies in direct subordination to Kadyrov break human rights in Chechnya.

"We have a CD with records of Grozny TV, where Kadyrov calls to illegitimate actions. It will be attached to the case files," Mr Orlov said.

"I spoke to people who asserted that Kadyrov applied violence to them. Now these people are dead," said Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, an employee of the HRC "Memorial", one of the witnesses from the respondent's side.

According to another respondent's witness - Alexander Mnatsakanyan, Estemirova was seriously afraid of Ramzan Kadyrov. "She was a courageous person. But, judging by my talks to her, Natasha had ground to fear Kadyrov," he said.