Oleg Orlov, head of the Memorial rights group who is facing a defamation lawsuit by Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, told a Moscow court Thursday that he continues to hold the leader responsible for the murder of fellow activist Natalya Estemirova.
Orlov said he never had claimed that Kadyrov ordered the still-unsolved 2009 killing, but accused Kadyrov of creating a climate of fear and violence in Chechnya that led to the death of Estemirova, who had drawn Kadyrov’s ire by campaigning to help victims of torture and abductions.
The verdict is due next Tuesday.