Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Russia-backed president, has lost a defamation case against a prominent Russian human rights activist.A Moscow court absolved Oleg Orlov of accusing him of personal involvement in the murder of fellow activist Natalya Estemirova in Chechnya in 1999. It found the leader of rights group Memorial had simply expressed an opinion.
Nobody has been prosecuted for the murder of Estemirova, who was abducted from outside her home in Grozny in July of 2009. Her bullet-riddled body was discoverd hours later in the neighboring region of Ingushetia.
Hours after the murder, Orlov was quoted by Memorial as saying: "I know, I am sure who is guilty of Natalya Estemirova's murder. We all know this person. His name is Ramzan Kadyrov... We do not know if he gave the order himself or if his close associates did so to please their superiors. But evidently [Russian] President [Dmitry] Medvedev is happy having a killer run one of the Russian Federation's regions."
Kadyrov, who had vowed to catch Estemirova's murderers while condemning the victim herself as someone "devoid of honor", took a civil action against Orlov, winning symbolic damages from him in 2009. He then pursued a criminal action.