MOSCOW, April 28 (Reuters) - Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader flippantly dismissed suggestions of involvement in killings in the restive Russian region, telling a court on Thursday his hands were clean from a recent manicure.
Ramzan Kadyrov is a one-time rebel Russia counts on to keep insurgent violence in check in Muslim-majority Chechnya after two separatist wars. He testified by video-link in the Moscow trial of a prominent human rights activist he sued for libel.
Kadyrov sued Memorial rights organisation head Oleg Orlov over remarks in which he said Kadyrov was responsible for the 2009 killing of Natalya Estemirova, an activist who was found dead after being abducted in her native Chechnya.
Estemirova’s slaying outraged foreign governments and increased scrutiny of Kadyrov. Critics say he rules the region as a personal fiefdom and directs a violent cmapaign of violence against opponents, claims he denied.
In court, Orlov’s lawyer asked Kadyrov about an account from Estemirova of a meeting with Kadyrov in which she said he threatened her and told her he was up to his elbows in blood.
"My hands are very clean and white, I had a manicure the day before yesterday," Kadyrov said, speaking from Chechnya.
"I am not fool anough to have threatened her."
Kadyrov is a 34-year-old boxing enthusiast and son of another former rebel who served as Chechnya’s first pro-Moscow president until his assassination in a 2004 bombing.
He did not stand when the judge entered the courtroom. Answering the court’s formal question of whether he had ever been convicted of a crime, he smiled and said: "Not yet."
Kadyrov said Estemirova "never defended human rights".
"She gossips, she talks, she does not defend … she did this without honour, dignity and conscience."
Orlov could face up to three years in prison if found guilty in the criminal libel trial. Kadyrov has won a civil libel case against Orlov over his remarks about Estemirova’s death.
Orlov did not accuse Kadyrov of having Estemirova killed, but said he was responsible because he had created an atmosphere of impunity and lawlessness.
Kadyrov began a new five-year term as Chechnya’s head this month after being nominated for re-appointment by the Kremlin.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin credit him with keeping a shaky peace a decade after major fighting ended in the second of two devastating wars pitting federal forces againt separatist rebels.
Chechnya is plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from the wars. This insurgency has spread to other provinces in Russia’s North Caucasus and much of the violence is now taking place in the neighboring Dagestan and Ingushetia provinces.
