MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI) - The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow has ruled against attorney Andrei Krasnenkov in his lawsuit against Kommersant Publishing House, according to Andrei Kozenko, a journalist and one of the defendants. Krasnenkov was Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s legal council until recently.

Krasnenkov filed a defamation suit against Kommersant regarding an article published in the September 14, 2010 edition. He requested a retraction and damages in the amount of one million rubles ($27,000) and 50,000 rubles ($1,350) each from journalists Andrei Kozenko and Aza Isayeva, the defendants in the case.

“The court ruled against each of the claims by Kadyrov’s former attorney. Kommersant and its legal department won the case,” Kozenko said.

The piece in question was published under the headline “Inquiry into Memorial links with militants,” and described a defamation case against the head of the Memorial human rights society, Oleg Orlov. The article quotes a statement by Andrei Krasnenkov who was representing Kadyrov in the Khamovniki District Court.