Witnesses in Kadyrov vs. Orlov litigation: being rights defender in Chechnya is dangerous

Helping people in defending their rights in Chechnya is a threat to one's life. This was stated by human rights activists and journalists at the trial "Kadyrov versus Orlov".

On January 13, another session of the court took place, which considers the slander criminal case, initiated against Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", in connection with his statements about the responsibility of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov for the murder of Natalia Estemirova, who worked for the "Memorial".

In the court of the session, which lasted for more than six hours, the witnesses for the defence took the floor: Grigory Shvedov, editor-in-chief of the Internet mass medium "Caucasian Knot", Igor Kalyapin, head of the "Committee against Torture" from Nizhny Novgorod and coordinator of the united mobile groups of Russian human rights organizations in the Chechen Republic, and Alexander Mnatsakanyan, an expert on Northern Caucasus and a journalist.

"I told the court that Chechnya lacks legal framework; people act in Chechnya, who wear uniform but wouldn't know or want to know the laws. For them, there's only one law: 'Ramzan said'. This phrase can be very often heard from militiamen," Igor Kalyapin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Another defence witness, Alexander Mnatsakanyan, who had known Natalia Estemirova since 1992, told about her two meetings with Ramzan Kadyrov. At both, according to Mnatsakanyan, the head of the republic was extremely annoyed and behaved rudely and defiantly. During the second meeting he even hinted threats to Estemirova and her daughter. After that, Natalia left Russia for several months.

The witness Grigory Shvedov explained that, according to his knowledge, Chechnya sees mass violations of the human right to life: people accused of involvement in the armed underground are killed before any hearings and proceedings aimed to establish their actual guilt; peaceful residents and civil servants are also not adequately protected.

"The defence witnesses are no witnesses. They know nothing in fact; and they saw nothing. They tell everything from the words of third persons," Kadyrov's advocate Andrei Krasnenkov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He claims that now Chechnya is much safer than in early and mid-2000s.
In the course of the session Judge Karina Morozova asked on several occasions to talk more about the situation in Chechnya.