Two suspects in Nemtsov’s murder case say they were tortured

Two suspects accused of participating in the murder of Boris Nemtsov have appealed to the human rights group the Committee Against Torture.

Zaur Dadayev claims he wasn’t fed for two days after being arrested on March 5, during which time he says he was tortured with electric shocks. Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, meanwhile, says the officers who brought him to court also photographed him without his clothes and set fire to his beard.

According to the Committee Against Torture, Russia’s Investigative Committee has refused to investigate the prisoners’ claims that they were tortured. Dadayev has also been prohibited from meeting with his lawyer, Evgeny Gubin, apparently because Igor Krasnov, the case’s head investigator, forbids it (though Krasnov’s consent isn’t necessary for a prisoner to meet with his attorney). 

“Complaints and appeals to the Investigative Committee filed by Gubin on March 20 still haven’t been reviewed. With Eskerkhanov, it’s also necessary to get an expert opinion about the state of his health,” explains Dmitry Piskunov, a lawyer from the Committee Against Torture. “Investigators refuse to investigate allegations of torture, and they’re preventing human rights workers from doing it, too.”

On March 10, the men apprehended for murdering Boris Nemtsov told human rights activists that they’d been tortured in police custody. Investigators accused human rights workers of interfering in the case, however, when the torture allegations soon appeared in the media.

Police have arrested five individuals for Nemtsov’s murder—all men from the Russian North Caucasus.

Opposition politician and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on February 27 in Moscow. Authorities have yet to announce publicly what they believe the killers’ motive was.