According to the website Kavkaz-Uzel, Ramzan Kadyrov might have been involved in organizing attempts against his own dissidents. He also threatened Natalya Estemirova, the witnesses testified on December 16th at the trial of the head of Memorial Human Rights Center, Oleg Orlov. Orlov is accused of slandering Kadyrov.

On December 16, the trial continued in Moscow against Oleg Orlov, in connection with his statements about the responsibility of the Kremlin-backed administration in Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, in Natalya Estemirova’s murder. The court listened to the witnesses; Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya from “Memorial” and Tatyana Lokshina, Deputy Director of the Moscow office of the international human rights organization “Human Rights Watch” gave testimony.

According to the human rights activist Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, there are four such cases: the case of Salikh Masaev, who in his complaint to the European Court accused Kadyrov of torture, after which he disappeared in Grozny; Sulim Yamadaev’s murder in Dubai for which Kadyrov’s personal stableman was condemned; the murder attempt against Isa Yamadaev in Moscow and Umar Israilov’s murder in Vienna, in which all signs show a clear connection to Kadyrov’s circle.

Both witnesses showed evidence that Estemirova had received threats from Kadyrov.

“Ramzan Kadyrov personally treated Estemirova negatively. On March 31, 2008, Natalya Estemirova and Ramzan Kadyrov met. During the meeting, Kadyrov shouted at her. He called her an indecent woman which is a very strong insult in the Chechen mentality. He even grabbed her by one of her arms. He spoke about her relatives and told her that her daughter goes to school alone. At the end of the meeting, he dismissed her from the Grozny Human Rights Council,” said Lokshina.

Also, she mentioned another menacing conversation on July 10, 2009. This time he was joined by Nurdi Nukhadzhiev, who is Kadyrov’s so-called human rights commissioner. The meeting was clear. They were unhappy with “Memorial” and Natalya Estemirova personally.

However, the puppet Kadyrov’s lawyer, Andrei Krasnenkov, did not like the witness’s evidence. “They openly slandered Kadyrov. They provided false testimony. Also, Umar Israilov was never a guard of Kadyrov. Such a service did not exist. When Israilov was arrested in 2004, there were a lot of accusations against him. Kadyrov told me, ‘I do not have personal security. Even if I did, I would not use this man’,” said Krasnenkov.

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco