Investigative Committee Seeks Arrest of Five Suspects in Russian Opposition Leader’s Murder
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Photo by Geovien So/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images(MOSCOW) — Two men were charged Sunday with the murder of leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, while charges are pending against three others. Nemtsov was fatally shot outside the Kremlin while walking with his girlfriend last month.
According to Russian news agency Interfax, Anzor Kubashev and Zaur Dadayev, both from the north Caucasus region, are the lead suspects in Nemtsov’s killing, and Dadayev has allegedly confessed to the crime. Kubashev has reportedly told the court he’s not guilty. A third suspect, Kubashev’s brother, was detained, while the Investigative Committee of Russia lodged a motion for the arrest of two others.
Meanwhile, reports surfaced Sunday that a sixth possible suspect, Beslan Shavanov, blew himself up with a hand grenade as police closed in on him in the Chechen Republic capital of Gronzy Saturday afternoon.
The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, first identified the suspects as Kubashev and Dadayev.
According to reports, the arrests were made from forensic evidence gathered from an abandoned car that authorities allege the shooters used when they targeted Nemtsov.
Cellphone records from the area of the crime reportedly also helped lead authorities to Kubashev and Dadayev.
Ilya Yashin, a political ally of Nemtsov, said he was skeptical about whether the right suspects had been caught.
Last week, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper cast some doubt on the Russian government’s investigation into Nemtsov’s death, saying that “the history has been that we never do find out.”
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