At "Kadyrov vs. Orlov" litigation, defendant's advocate objects to further trial without claimant

At the trial on the case "Kadyrov vs. Orlov", which continued on March 3 in the Khamovniki District Court of Moscow, the defendant's advocate Genry Reznik would not agree to announcement at the trial of the evidences of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov without the personal presence of the claimant.

As explained by Andrei Krasnenkov, Kadyrov's representative at the trial, on the reasons why Kadyrov could not appear at the court, the head of Chechnya occupies a highly responsible post and does not have a lot of free time.

The judge had partially accepted these arguments; however, Genry Reznik, defendant's advocate, insists on the personal participation of the claimant in the process.

Earlier, Andrei Krasnenkov had several times emphasized at previous sessions that his client was a law-abiding citizen of Russia; and therefore, his appearance in the building of the Khamovniki Court was not excluded.

It is expected that the next session scheduled for March 28 may be visited by Kadyrov himself, but the defence doubts that this will happen.

In the course of the session on March 3, Oleg Orlov moved petitions asking to add a number of documents and publications in the media, confirming the rightness of his position, to the case files. The court decided to satisfy these petitions. The prosecutor and the victim's representative had no objections.

By the end of the session, an incident happened in the crowded courtroom. An elderly lady from the audience started loudly insisting that Kadyrov should be brought to the courtroom by force; and the court marshal rudely removed her from the room. Then, he shut the door, through which citizens, who could not find room inside, were watching the trial. While pushing people out, the marshal hurt the hand of one of the visitors. The judge noted that "previous sessions had passed peacefully."

The situation escalated after Kadyrov's representative Andrei Krasnenkov put a few questions to Oleg Orlov, which seemed provocative to the audience.

Thus, for instance, he asked whether the assassinated Natalia Estemirova had problems with her apartment. Orlov said that in Chechnya in the post-war confusion for the same living space is often claimed by different families, so it was with an apartment of Natalia.

Besides, Krasnenkov asked whether Kadyrov had promised to Orlov personally not to sue him, and whether the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" had attempted to resolve the conflict with the head of Chechnya by some "unlawful" manner, inter alia, through appeals to the Russian presidential administration.

The defendant said that a number of human rights defenders, working not with the "Memorial", outraged by his persecution by the top state official, appealed to Medvedev trying to draw his attention to the situation. "However, 'Memorial' had nothing to do with those letters. Besides, the European Parliament passed resolutions in this criminal process; however, our organization is naturally not responsible for the decisions of the European Parliament," said Oleg Orlov.