Two charged over killing of Russian opposition figure

MOSCOW (Web Desk) – Authorities in Moscow have charged two men with involvement in the murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, one of whom served in a police unit in the Russian region of Chechnya, according to a law enforcement official.

A total of five men appeared at a Moscow courtroom on Sunday. Three of them have not yet been charged and are being treated as suspects, said court spokeswoman Anna Fadeyeva.

Court officials named Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev as those charged, and said Gubashev’s brother Shagid was one of the three suspects. Russian media reports said they originated from Chechnya, the predominantly Muslim southern republic of Russia that has seen violent separatist insurgencies over the past two decades.

The judge at Dadayev’s hearing, Natalia Mushnikova, said Dadayev had admitted involvement in the killing and ordered him to be held in custody until 28 April.

“Dadayev’s involvement in committing this crime is confirmed by, apart from his own confession, the totality of evidence gathered as part of this criminal case,” she told the court.

Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in the back by a gunman in a passing car while walking close to the Kremlin on the evening of 27 February.

The prime witness to the killing returned to Kiev this week. She told the media she was unable to identify who shot Nemtsov.

Nemtsov was killed two days before he was due to lead an opposition rally in Moscow. A memorial held instead was attended by tens of thousands of people.

Many believe the killing, which occurred in an area of high security near the Kremlin, would not have been possible without official involvement, and may have been an attempt to intimidate other government opponents.

Another opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, who was released from a two-week detention in prison on Friday for organising the initial anti-government rally, accused Russia’s “political leadership” of ordering the assassination of Nemtsov.

“There will be no let-up in our efforts. We will give up nothing. This act of terror has not achieved its goal,” he said on Friday.

Friends said Nemtsov had been working on a report containing what he described as proof of Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine.

Nemtsov was deputy prime minister in the 1990s in the government of Boris Yeltsin, which made him a tainted figure in the eyes of some Russians.

He had written a number of reports in recent years linking Putin and his inner circle to alleged corruption, and was one of the best-known politicians among Russia’s small and beleaguered opposition.

In 2013, he said as much as $30bn (£20bn) of the estimated $50bn funding for the Winter Olympics in Sochi had gone missing – a claim the Kremlin denied.

Nemtsov’s killing was condemned by world leaders, with the office of the French president, François Hollande, describing it as an assassination. David Cameron said the callous murder must be “fully, rapidly and transparently investigated”.

On Friday Nemtsov’s daughter Zhanna told CNN that her father had died a hero and that the Russian authorities held political responsibility for the killing.

She said she had no confidence that those responsible for her father’s death would be brought to justice: “Russia has crossed the line after this murder and people will be frightened to express ideas contrary to the official standpoint.”

Putin has called the killing a “provocation”, vowing that everything would be done to convict those who committed a “vile and cynical murder”.