Chechen President finds "Novaya Gazeta" articles on Markelov's murder slanderous

Andrei Krasnenkov, advocate of the Chechen leader, has stated that the articles of the "Novaya Gazeta" on the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov contain slanderous information against President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov.

On Thursday, October 29, Mr Krasnenkov addressed the Public Prosecutor's Office of Moscow with a request to clear out the destiny of Kadyrov's application demanding to initiate a criminal case on slander against the "Novaya Gazeta".

Let us remind you that now the Moscow Public Prosecutor's Office considers Ramzan Kadyrov's application on opening a criminal case against Dmitri Muratov, editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta", the paper's military observer Vyacheslav Izmailov and several more employees of the edition. It is expected that in parallel a civil suit on defence of honour and dignity will be lodged.

As explained by Krasnenkov to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the "Novaya Gazeta" articles, in which Kadyrov saw slander, told about the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov. "The articles state, with reference to anonymous human rights activists, that Kadyrov could be involved in the lawyer's murder," said Krasnenkov. Another reason of the claim was the article "Execution in Vienna", which stated possible Kadyrov's involvement in murder in Austria of Umar Israilov, a resident of Chechnya.

Further, Kadyrov's advocate said: "The inquiry division of the Moscow GUVD (City Interior Department) told me that there was a refusal to initiate a criminal case, and I wanted to appeal against it. But the GUVD had appealed against it itself. The Public Prosecutor's Office had returned the application with the materials of the check, but then recalled it again. It's not clear whether the refusal to open a criminal case was cancelled. For this particular reason I addressed the Public Prosecutor's Office," said Kadyrov's lawyer.