2010-02-02
Kadyrov and Novaya Gazeta: “committed to different positions”
MOSCOW, February 2. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s representative Andrei Krasnenkov and defense lawyers of the daily Novaya Gazeta met in Moscow’s Basmanny Court on Tuesday to have refused to conclude an amicable deal over the lawsuit for the protection of law and dignity and compensation for moral damages, set at 965,600 rubles.
In response to a question from the judge whether the parties to the dispute were prepared to resolve the dispute peacefully, Krasnenkov replied that in his opinion it would be impossible.
“We are committed to different positions,” he said.
Krasnenkov said that Moscow police force investigators were in the process of conducting an inquiry launched at his request for opening a criminal case against a number of authors and the editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta daily, Dmitry Muradov. Kadyrov’s representative had requested opening a criminal case over slander, because, according to his sources, the newspaper’s authors had prior knowledge the claims they were publishing were untrue.
After that the daily’s representative, Yaroslav Kozheurov, requested a postponement of the case until a ruling in the criminal case was pronounced. He said that it would cause a considerable influence on the court proceedings and even result in its suspension.
The court is now to decide if the hearings on the lawsuit should be postponed after questioning two witnesses, who had arrived from the Chechen republic.
The lawsuit was filed over six articles the Novaya Gazeta daily published from May 2008 through February 2009. In all articles the Chechen president said to be responsible for murder, torture and threats of physical violence.
Kadyrov’s lawyer wants the court to order the daily to publish a statement refuting the charges and also to levy a compensation of over 865,000 rubles – one ruble per each copy.
Source: ITAR TASS
