A Moscow military court launched a trial investigating the murder of oppositionist leader Boris Nemtsov on Monday. Nemtsov was killed on February 27, 2015 on Moscow’s Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge. The Defendants in the case are Zaur Dadaev, who investigators believe was the direct perpetrator of the crime, as well as Anzor Gubashevy, Shadid Gubashevy, Tamerlane Eskerhanov, and Khamzat Bach. The defendants pled not guilty.
The investigative team suspects that the murder was ordered by Ruslan Muhudinova, former officer of the battalion Sever. He has been charged in absentia.
Earlier, it was was reported that there were not enough seats in the courtroom to accommodate all present persons. It was, therefore, decided that journalists were not being permitted to enter the courtroom. This has since been resolved.
Boris Nemtsov was one of the most prominent Russian politicians of the 1990s and 2000s. After serving as governor of the Nizhniy Novgorod region from 1991-1997, he was at one time vetted as President Boris Yeltsin’s potential successor. Nemtsov was also a long-time leader of the liberal Soyus Pravykh Sil (Union of Right Forces).
In the 2000s, Nemtsov became an opposition leader and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. He authored several works on corruption in Russia and the enrichment of Putin’s inner circle.
Nemtsov was shot and killed within several yards of the Kremlin.