In society

Human rights activist and killer

September 24, 2010 Alexander Podrabinek

In the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow, a trial is underway on charges of the chairman of the Council of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” by Oleg Orlov of a criminal offense - public slander of the President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. The court, although khamovnic, is not the one where the case of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev is obeyed. The case of Orlova is considered by the justice of the peace Galina Morozova in court No. 363 on 1905.

The background of the case is as follows. Last year, the employee of the Memorial was killed in Chechnya Natalya Estemirova. She was abducted in Grozny on July 15, and in the evening of the same day, her corpse with traces of gunshot wounds in the head and chest was found in Ingushetia, in a forest belt, a hundred meters from the Caucasus federal highway. The murder caused universal indignation and had a huge public outcry. President Medvedev expressed his condolences to his native Estemirova. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France and Sweden declared their indignation. The US National Security Council called for the killers. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov called the crime “monstrous” and stated that he would personally control the search for criminals. From this moment it became clear that the killers would not be found.

A few days later, Orlov spoke at a press conference in Moscow, assigning responsibility for the murder of the President of Chechnya. In a statement about the murder of Estemirova, he wrote: “I know, I am sure who is guilty of the murder of Natasha Estemirova. We all know this person. His name is Ramzan Kadyrov, this is the president of the Chechen Republic. ” The touchy president, who considers human rights activists to the enemies of the state, accused Orlov of slander. For the reliability of revenge, he decided to use two mechanisms of justice at once - civil and criminal.

In the framework of the civil process, he filed a lawsuit for 5 million rubles. The lawsuit was accepted and satisfied, but the court ordered Orlov to pay not 5 million rubles to the Chechen president, but only 20 thousand. Kadyrov’s lawyer called the amount of compensation ridiculous.

Our criminal legislation with the residual interspersed of Soviet barbarism provides for the slander of criminal liability. According to Kadyrov, a criminal case was opened against Oleg Orlov. The President of Chechnya was recognized as the victim. From the outside it looked pretty funny: the president who suffered from a human rights activist. Maybe, not wanting to look like a laughing stock in the eyes of serious Caucasian people, and maybe for what other reason, in February of this year, Kadyrov said that out of respect for “people in age” at the request of public figures and his mother, he was ready to stop all the persecution of Orlov. Alas, a beautiful pose was enough for a short while. The son was naughty, and the case against Orlov was continued.

The process began on September 13 in a magistrate court, where cases of administrative misconduct and minor offenses are usually obeyed. President Kadyrov did not appear at the hearing, referring to employment. His interests in court are represented by Andrei Krasnenkov. On behalf of the state, the prosecution is supported by the assistant prosecutor of the North-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow Yana Fomichev. Oleg Orlova is defended by lawyer Henry Reznik.

The process stumbled at the very beginning. Lawyer Reznik filed a petition to be removed by the representative of Kadyrov Andrei Krasnenkov, since the latter was interrogated in the case as a witness, which is incompatible with the status of a representative of the victim. The judge went to the deliberation room, where she consulted with her judicial conscience for two hours, and then announced that the petition for the allotment was rejected.

Reznik was dejected and stated that the process begins with gross violations of the law. In addition, he noted that Krasnenkov calls himself the legal representative of Ramzan Kadyrov, while legal representatives can only be among minors. The lawyer expressed confidence that President Kadyrov had already crossed the threshold of infancy. The prosecution missed these words past the ears.

On the traditional question, whether he understands the charge against him and whether he pleads guilty, Oleg Orlov said that the essence of the accusation was incomprehensible to him. He explained that he did not blame Kadyrov of the murder of Estemirova, but assigned him responsibility for it. As the president of Chechnya and the guarantor of compliance with the rule of law in the republic.

The representative of the victim from Orlov President Kadyrov did not enter into the discussion and sat silently, with a mysterious look, flipping on his table. He recently publicly announced that he had prepared sensational materials for the Orlov process. What exactly did not say, which immediately intrigued by journalists and the audience. As far as it was possible to find out, the “sensation” will somehow be connected with the former guard Kadyrov Umar Israilov, who fled to the west and killed last January in Vienna.

On the first day of the trial, witnesses were interrogated by the accusations telling the court what a good President Ramzan Kadyrov from all sides. The interrogation of witnesses of the prosecution will continue now on September 27. Then there will be an interrogation of witnesses of protection. There will be many testimonies.

But no less interesting than the testimony of witnesses, the testimony of Ramzan Kadyrov himself. And although he did not give them to the court, but the media, they do not become less interesting from this. Even the opposite. In court, he would probably not behave like that. In court, he would prove that Orlov would slander, imposing the guilt of him for the murder of Estemirova. In court, he would have proved that he is not a killer and cannot be a killer. And here is what he declares to the press.

On May 23 of this year, the Grozny television channel in the program “Results” Kadyrov speaks of militants and their parents: “Wallahi (swear by Allah!), Wahhabis and those who are at least the slightest smell of Wahhabism will be destroyed. I swear by Allah if they do not bring their children home, I will not let them live on this earth. They must either bring their children to their children to put them in jail, or kill them. I swear by Allah! We will not even delay them, but simply kill them in place. ”

In an interview with Anna Politkovskaya , published in Novaya Gazeta on June 21, 2004, Kadyrov admits that he gave orders to kill people.

- Did you give orders to kill?

- gave

- Not scary?

- It's not me - this is Allah. The Prophet said: Wahhabis must be destroyed. ”

In August 2005, in an interview with the GQ magazine, Ksenia Sokolova, Ramzan Kadyrov, states : “I have already killed the one who I had to kill. And I will kill everyone to the last until they kill me or put me. I will kill me, while I am alive.”

In January 2008, in an interview with Vladimir Bartholomeev at Echo of Moscow, Ramzan Kadyrov admits that he participated in the destruction of a number of people whom he considers involved in the murder of his father. After all this, it is difficult not to believe the memories of Natalia Estemirova about a meeting with Kadyrov, who threatened her and said like this: “Yes, my hands are on the elbow in the blood. And I'm not ashamed of it. I killed, and I will kill bad people. We are fighting with the enemies of the republic. ”

Ramzan Kadyrov did not show judicial lawsuits on any of these episodes, he did not refuse his words. The person who kills is called the killer. It's simple. What are the claims to Oleg Orlov?