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Russian court sentences Nemtsov hitmen to lengthy jail terms

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Moscow: A Russian court on Thursday handed lengthy jail terms to five Chechen men convicted of the contract killing of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov (pictured) as his allies insisted the masterminds remained unidentified.


Zaur Dadayev, who carried out the shooting, was sentenced to 20 years in prison while four other defendants were jailed for between 11 and 19 years, judge Yury Zhitnikov told the Moscow courtroom after a lengthy trial by jury.


The prosecutor had asked for longer sentences for all the defendants including life in jail for Dadayev — a former internal troop officer in Russia’s Chechnya region.


A jury in June found all five guilty of carrying out the hit for a fee of $250,000 (220,000 euros) after a marathon trial that Nemtsov’s supporters say failed to unmask those who ordered the killing.


Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister and fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down just metres from the Kremlin as he walked home with his girlfriend on the evening of February 27, 2015. The brazen murder in central Moscow was the most high-profile political killing in Russia since Putin rose to power some 17 years ago.


Those convicted — Dadayev, brothers Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev — are all ethnic Chechens from Russia’s volatile North Caucasus.


Nemtsov’s family and supporters say that people close to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov who were linked to the murder have not been investigated. During the trial the judge refused a request to summon Kadyrov for questioning.


“Neither the organisers nor the masterminds were in the dock,” lawyer Vadim Prokhorov, representing Nemtsov’s daughter, told journalists after the sentencing. — AFP


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