Three prosecution witnesses speak at Kadyrov vs. Orlov trial

Today in Moscow, the third session took place on the criminal case of slander initiated against Oleg Orlov, Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", under the suit of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

Well before the start of the session, all 14 seats in the courtroom were occupied by strong young men, some of whom said that they had come from Chechnya and study at Moscow higher schools. Only after persistent requests extra chairs were brought for reporters and other interested visitors, the statement of the HRC "Memorial" runs.

In the course of the session, the following persons were questioned: Sergey Komkov, President of the All-Russian Foundation for Education and a member of advisory councils at the State Duma Committee on Security and Education; Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman in Chechnya; and Ismail Dadalaev, assistant the State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov.

Initially, Nurdi Nukhazhiev refused to answer Mr Orlov's questions, but the judge told Nukhazhiev that it was his duty as a witness to answer.

On a whole number of questions asked by lawyer Genry Reznik and Orlov, in particular, on kidnappings and public utterances of Ramzan Kadyrov about Natalia Estemirova and the "Memorial", shelling in Grozny of women without headscarves from paintball guns, and some others, Nukhazhiev kept asserting that he did not "know anything", "had no information" or "could say nothing."

Ismail Dadalaev, in his turn, said that only there, in the courtroom, he heard for the first time the statements of Deputy Delimkhanov, widely quoted by media, in relation to the people who, according to the deputy, "call themselves human rights defenders" ("Those, who with arms in hand fight against us, or sympathize with them, or even support shaitans in their thoughts; in any case we'll liquidate them," - note of the "Caucasian Knot"). However, the deputy assistant said that Delimkhanov meant solely militants and their helpers.

It is planned that the next session to be held on November 2 at 12:00 a.m. should be entirely dedicated to completion of presentation of prosecution's materials (documents available in the case file).