Opposition leader announces at mass protest that Chechnya's ruler may have killed Boris Nemtsov

At an opposition rally in Moscow on September 20, Alexey Navalny announced on stage that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov may have something to do with the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

The rally, which attracted more than 7,000 people, was held in support of a “change of power,” decrying the 15-year rule of President Vladimir Putin. In his speech to the crowd, addressing the importance of free speech, Navalny said, “If my friend, a politician, was killed in the center of Moscow, I have to say that he was killed by Ramzan Kadyrov, possibly with orders from Putin.” Navalny also slammed another top Russian politician, claiming that Pskov Governor Andrei Turchak may be guilty of ordering the attack on journalist Oleg Kashin.

Other Russian opposition activists who gave speeches at the rally called for the release of political prisoners and for free and fair elections.

At the close of the rally, an opposition activist recited Alexander Pushkin’s poem “To Chadaev” to the crowd, ending with the lines “And Russia will arise from slumber, / Our names will be incised with wonder / On remnants of oppressive reign!”

Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, was shot and killed on February 27 in the center of Moscow, not far from the Kremlin. Nemtsov was 55 years old. Police have arrested five individuals for Nemtsov’s murder—all men from the Russian North Caucasus.

Alexei Navalny heads the Anti-Corruption Foundation, an organization that investigates and reveals fraud committed by Russian politicians. He is also the head of the Party of Progress and ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013, nearly forcing a runoff with the incumbent candidate.

The "change of power" demonstration took place in the Moscow district of Maryino on September 20. The opposition initially filed a request with the mayor’s office to hold the rally in the center of the city, but the mayor’s office refused and issued a permit only for Maryino, a residential area about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from downtown.

This was Moscow's first major protest in months. The previous rally took place in the form of a march through the city center in February 2015, in the aftermath of politician Boris Nemtsov's murder.