Kadyrov's lawyer files lawsuit against "Memorial"

Andrei Krasnenkov, advocate of the Chechen President, filed a civil claim on his own behalf on protection of business reputation against the Human Rights Society "Memorial", demanding compensation of 500,000 roubles.

The reason of the suit was an article published on the official website of the "Memorial" on September 30 "Representative of Ramzan Kadyrov Misleads Journalists". According to Krasnenkov, the article contains "slanderous allegations."

He asks the court to oblige the human rights organization to refute the challenged information, and to collect from the "Memorial" 500,000 roubles as compensation of moral harm, the "Interfax" writes.

According to Mr Krasnenkov, the pre-trial preparation on the suit is scheduled for December 6, the RAPSI reports.

Let us note here that the message of the "Memorial" referred to by Krasnenkov contained comments of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" to his statements made by the lawyer on behalf of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on the criminal case against Oleg Orlov, head of the HRC "Memorial", accused of slandering Kadyrov.

The HRC "Memorial" believes, in particular, that Krasnenkov is deliberately distorting facts. As an example, Krasnenkov's statement is presented, delivered to journalists on September 15, 2010, that Orlov and his defence had tried, during the court hearing on September 25, 2009, to add to the materials of the civil case Kadyrov vs. Orlov a falsified and forged decoding of a video.

In reality, the court, while viewing video reports on the CD and comparing them with transcripts, noted the technical deficiencies of the texts: only those statements of Chechen officials were transcribed, to which Orlov and his representatives referred to in the court, while the introductory words of television announcers and reporters were not transcribed, the HRC "Memorial" gives its comments. This was the reason why the court had dismissed the petition on adding the videos to the files, and did it after deficiencies had been eliminated.

The HRC "Memorial" has also accused Krasnenkov that he had "same precisely" narrated to journalists also a number of other stories; especially those related to the meeting of Chechen President with human rights defenders, etc. The "Memorial" believes that Krasnenkov conceals the truth, seeking to discredit the human rights organization and the chairman of its Board and to mislead the media.