Hilary Swank to Donate Fees From Chechen Leader's Birthday Party
Celebrity

Hours after apologizing for attending Ramzan Kadyrov's bash, the 'Conviction' actress says through a rep that she will hand out her appearance fees 'to various charitable organizations'.

AceShowbiz - Expressing deep regrets in words apparently isn't enough for Hilary Swank to prove how sorry she is for partying with an accused torturer. Just hours after the Oscar-winning actress issued an apologetic statement, her representative revealed that she's "donating her personal appearance fees from this event to various charitable organizations."

The 37-year-old's decision to give the fees to charities was made public after the Human Rights Foundation questioned her apology. "After five days of wall-to-wall criticism, this is weak, especially given that the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) sent a warning directly to Swank through her manager on Sept. 26 - a full 10 days before the party," HRF's Sarah Wasserman said.

"We offered to brief her, but her manager cut us short and responded that Hilary had no plans to attend," Sarah continued. "Worse, the video of her birthday wishes shows her boasting about her knowledge of Chechnya and how she 'reads' and 'does her research.' The more important question now is what is Swank going to do with the blood money paid from Kadyrov's coffers? She sidesteps the issue completely."

While it isn't clear how much Hilary received for her appearance at the bash, it was reported that Jean-Claude Van Damme was paid $1 million for his appearance. Meanwhile, Seal and Vanessa Mae, who performed at the soiree, allegedly received $500,000 each.

Hilary was recently slammed for attending Ramzan Kadyrov's 35th birthday party on October 5 in Grozny, Chechnya because the Chechen leader is considered as someone who is "using torture, causing disappearances, and authorizing extrajudicial executions" since taking office in 2007.

On Thursday, October 13, the "Million Dollar Baby" star issued her apology. "I deeply regret attending this event, which has thrown into question my long and deeply-held commitment to the protection of human rights," she said in a statement. "I would never intentionally do anything that raised doubts about such commitment."

"I will continue to donate my time and my financial resources not only to the charities with which I am currently affiliated, but also those dedicated to the preservation of human rights. If I had a full understanding of what this event was apparently intended to be, I would never have gone."

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