The hearing of November 25, 2010[1] took place before the District Court No. 363 of Khamovniki district in Moscow, and was dedicated to the examination of the first defence witnesses. They reported in particular on the general climate of fear and impunity prevailing in Chechnya, and on the difficult context in which members of the HRC “Memorial” office in Grozny were operating.
Witnesses also reported that at the occasion of meetings held between Mr. Kadyrov and Ms. Estemirova – especially in March 2004 and February 2008, Mr. Kadyrov had been threatening and insulting towards Ms. Estemirova.
The Observatory recalls that Miklos Haraszti, OSCE High Representative on Freedom of the Media, pointed out that “statements like Orlov’s are perfectly legitimate in a democracy and should be subject neither to civil-law nor to criminal-law sanctioning”.
The Observatory is therefore concerned by the ongoing judicial harassment against Mr. Oleg Orlov, which seem to merely aim at obstructing his human rights activities.
The trial is expected to resume on December 16, 2010. The Observatory will continue to follow the proceedings, and calls upon the relevant Russian authorities to conform with the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Russian Federation.
For further information, please contact:
* FIDH: Karine Appy / Fabien Maître : + 33 1 43 55 25 18
* OMCT: Seynabou Benga : + 41 22 809 49 39
[1] For more information, see Observatory Judicial Observation Mission Report on the trial against the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” and Mr. Orlov, available at the following links: http://www.fidh.org/Publication-of-a-judicial-observation-report-on and http://www.omct.org/pdf/Observatory/2009/Russia_Judicial_observation_mission_dec09_ENG.pdf.