Russian court: Murderer of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov jailed for 20 years
Moscow’s Military District Court has delivered its verdict in the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
A public prosecutor wanted Zaur Dadayev, who was declared actual perpetrator of the crime, to be jailed for the life term. He was sentenced to 20 years in a high-security prison. The prosecution also requested to deprive Dadaev of the title of Lieutenant and the Order of Courage. The court satisfied the demand.
In March 2015, Zaur Dadayev told Moscow’s Public Monitoring Committee law enforceers had tortured him for several days, forcing him to make confessionary statements. The country’s Investigation Committee carried out a check over his complaint, but found no violations.
Other defendants in the case were also sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Anzor Gubashev got 19 years, his brother Shadid – 16 years, Temirlan Eskerhanov – 14 years, Khamzat Bakhaev – 11 years.
All the convicts did not plead guilty. Their lawyers are going to appeal against the sentence.
Boris Nemtsov was killed on February 27, 2015 in the very heart of Moscow. According to Russian investigators, Ruslan Mukhudinov, a former officer of Sever battalion, was a hirer and organizer of the murder. He was put on the international wanted list and charged in absentia.
Interestingly, the Chechen battalion ‘Sever’ was transformed into a special motorized regiment named after Akhmad-Hadji Kadyrov , the father of Ramzan Kadyrov, in 2010. The soldiers of this regiment are guards of the incumbent leader of Chechnya.
