MOSCOW, June 8 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) – Lawyer Mark Kaverzin has asked jurors to acquit Zaur Dadayev, who stands charged with killing of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, RAPSI reported from the Moscow District Military Court on Thursday.
“Dadayev is not involved in the crime,” Kaverzin said. All other lawyers in the case have already spoken to a jury panel. Each lawyer insisted on innocence of a client they represent and asked for acquittal.
On June 1, prosecutor Maria Semenenko asked jurors to deliver a guilty verdict for five defendants in the case. According to the prosecutor, their guilt in the murder has been proven.
Boris Nemtsov, 55, a prominent opposition politician, who held a number of high-ranking posts in the Russian Government in the 1990s and in the 2000s joined the opposition, was shot down in the center of Moscow as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin on the night of February 28, 2015.
Five men, Zaur Dadayev, brothers Anzor and Shadid Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhayev have been charged along with Tamerlan Eskerkhanov with contract murder and illegal acquisition, carrying and keeping of weapons.
Ruslan Mukhudinov, a former officer in Chechen Interior Ministry, is believed to be a mastermind of the murder. He was placed on the international wanted list in November 2015. Beslan Shavanov, who allegedly was also implicated in the crime, reportedly killed himself when police tried to arrest him.
Investigators believe that the conspirators in the murder had thoroughly prepared to commit this crime: they studied Nemtsov’s schedule, spied upon him, prepared suitable weapons, vehicles and communication equipment. On the day of the murder, 28 February, after following Nemtsov from his home, at about 11.31 p.m. Dadayev, having received a signal from Anzor Gubashev and Shavanov that the situation was suitable for the murder, shot Nemtsov at least six times, according to investigation.
Criminal prosecution of Shavanov was dismissed because of his death. Investigation into Mukhudinov is underway.
