Reznik: sentence of acquittal on "Kadyrov vs. Orlov" case would stop abuse by prosecutor's office

During nine month of litigation, the guilt of Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", accused of libel against the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, was never proved; and an acquittal could stop "abuses of the prosecutor's office," said Genry Reznik, Orlov's advocate, at the debate session on June 9.

As stated by Genry Reznik, for two times the investigation refused to accept the case to proceedings.

According to the lawyer, in his statement, which had become the subject of the trial, Oleg Orlov, "separated Kadyrov from Estemirova's killers." "Kadyrov made the work of human rights defenders impossible in Chechnya; and those who killed Estemirova wanted to interrupt the flow of truthful information about the situation in the republic," lawyer Reznik read out the press release of the "Memorial" with the Orlov's statement, which became the subject of litigation.

"We are defending ourselves from criminal prosecution on charges of organizing Estemirova's murder. However, Orlov never said that Kadyrov had personally killed her," said the defender.

The lawyer also said that the Tver Court, which had found Orlov guilty under a civil lawsuit, "condemned Orlov for an assessment judgment, which is a violation of the law."

After the speech of the lawyer Genry Reznik, who is defending the interests of the head of the "Memorial", the judge invited the parties to use the right of reply.

The state prosecutor refused to take the floor, while Andrei Krasnenkov, who is representing the head of Chechnya at the trial, said in his reply that Oleg Orlov had deliberately tried to slander Kadyrov, which was proved by facts in the judicial investigation.

The state prosecutor said in his speech at the debates that there was no information about Kadyrov's involvement in Estemirova's murder, and, accordingly, the information published by the "Memorial" about Ramzan Kadyrov's involvement in her murder had nothing to do with reality.

According to Andrei Krasnenkov, Oleg Orlov deserves three years of minimum security colony.

As he said, Ramzan Kadyrov believes that Oleg Orlov had abused him as an individual, not as an official person.

Oleg Orlov stressed in his final statement that he did not repent either of having publicly uttered the words that had caused the allegations against him, or of having put them into the press release of the HRC "Memorial", or of having contributed to dissemination of that press release, because he is sure that there was no crime elements in his actions.

The rights defender believes that by proving his innocence at the court he defends the right of Russian citizens to the freedom of expression; while the very fact of initiation of criminal proceedings against him because of uttered words; and the attempts of the prosecution to treat his words as a crime are nothing but "a blatant attack on the freedom of expression."