MOSCOW, MAY 22 - RAPSI. On May 29, the Moscow Tverskoy District Court will resume hearing the lawsuit of lawyer Andrei Krasnenkov, representing the interests of Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov, against human rights organization, Memorial.
Krasnenkov claims that five statements in one of the organization's articles defame the Chechen president. Kadyrov's lawyer requires their refutation, as well as the payment of 500,000 rubles ($16,134) in moral damages.
According to the attorney, the Moscow Ostankinsky Court had previously dismissed a similar lawsuit by Memorial against the president.
Krasnenkov added that he had filed the lawsuit against Memorial in 2010 but had requested to suspend the process until the hearings on the case regarding Memorial's head Oleg Orlov had come to an end.
Investigators accused Orlov of defaming Kadyrov in the case connected with the murder of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova. Estemirova, an employee at Memorial and winner of many famous human rights awards, was kidnapped in Grozny on July 15, 2009. Her body was later found in Ingushetia.
Her murder incited major political and social uproar. Orlov spoke publicly of the personal or indirect involvement of Kadyrov in the death of the human rights activist, after which court hearings commenced. In January 2012, the Moscow Khamovnichesky District Court closed the case due to the decriminalization of the corresponding article in the Criminal Code.
The Moscow Tverskoy District had previously found that Orlov's statements defamed the honor, dignity and business reputation of Chechnya's president. Orlov was fined 20,000 rubles ($645) and Memorial, 50,000 rubles ($1,613).