The leader of the liberal Russian opposition Boris Nemtsov in February 2015 on a post directly in front of the Kremlin in Moscow shot and killed 34-year-old Chechen officer Zaur Dadaev. The jury in the Military court of Moscow, after three days of discussion decided that it’s proven.
Four of the Chechens have been called guilty of that helped Dadaeva in the implementation of the crime. Now a professional judge will determine the punishment for them, and it may, in particular, to provide for up to life imprisonment. Most likely, the verdict will be known — the most informed — on Tuesday.
The family’s lawyer Nemtsov, Vladimir Prokhorov, has declared that agree with the sentences handed down to four of the five men, but still he is not happy.
“We cannot say that we are satisfied with the verdict. We would be happy if no murder at all. But the most important thing is that neither those that had organized the murder, nor those that ordered it, not found”, — he said, according to the independent Russian online newspaper Mediazona, specializing in Russian trials with political overtones.
“We will insist that the crime involved close associates of Kadyrov”, — said Prokhorov, referring to the leader of the Russian Autonomous Republic Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.
Refused made earlier confessions
Shortly after they were detained, Dada and some others arrested gave detailed confessions during police interrogations, but later rejected them and claimed they were forced to give such testimony because they were tortured.
“I did not commit this crime. If I wanted to be a criminal, I’d be them, not an officer,” said Dadaev in his last word, writes Mediazona.
His lawyer, mark Kaverin says about the “huge number of procedural irregularities” and announced the intention to appeal to the Russian Supreme court. 2 of the 12 members of the jury found unproven that the murder was committed Dadaev, and other decisions were not unanimous.
The strings are to Kadyrov
Before the murder Dadaev he held an important position in the armed Chechen division “North”, controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov. Led the battalion Alibek Delimkhanov, the brother of Adam Delimkhanov, Deputy of the Russian Parliament, who is considered the closest associate of Kadyrov. There are other family ties between prisoners and brothers Delimkhanov who have cousins Ramzan Kadyrov.
Neither Kadyrov nor Adam Delimkhanov was never questioned. Alibek Delimkhanov was questioned in court, but he couldn’t remember anything significant.
Ruslan Eremeev, the nephew of the brothers Zelimkhanovich and Dadaevich, one of the leaders of the North, “disappeared”, but the official search is not declared. This is despite the fact that he often visited the apartment in Moscow, where they lived a few prisoners, and although, judging by the security cameras, went to the airport in Moscow, and then flew to Grozny in Chechnya, together with Dadaev on the day after the murder.
Instead, the position searched for a Ruslan M., Eremeeva chauffeur, the man who hired Dadaeva and four others to commit a murder for 15 million rubles (1.7 million kroons, if the current rate). Where the chauffeur had the money for such rewards have not been reported.
When Dadaev was arrested a few days after the murder, Kadyrov spoke of him as her friend and “a true patriot”. Kadyrov denied that in some way involved in the murder of Nemtsov, who at the time of his death was the most prominent figure in the Russian liberal opposition, and before that was Governor of Nizhny Novgorod and Deputy Prime Minister under Boris Yeltsin.
Who defends Putin?
Even among the most vocal critics of Vladimir Putin, few think that the President is personally involved in the murder. The Germans did not constitute any immediate threat to the regime, and the killing just opposite the Kremlin walls was the bad PR for a President who likes to be seen as the guarantor of peace and order. Independent Russian media, citing sources in the Kremlin, wrote that Putin was “shocked” by the murder.
But the General opinion is that Putin now knows who ordered the murder, but did not want it revealed.
Either because the man behind the murder, Kadyrov, who rules with an iron hand, Chechnya and could easily start a third war in the North Caucasus Republic, if you abandon your current loyalty to Putin. Or — less likely, according to most observers, because behind it all, the secret service, the FSB, claimed one of the convicted Chechens, Shadid Gubarev.
