MOSCOW, April 20 (RAPSI) – A girlfriend of Khamzat Bakhayev, who is suspected of involvement in the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in late February, said during an examination that she was with him in a Moscow flat at the time of the killing, TASS reported on Monday, citing Bakhayev's lawyer, Zaurbek Sadakhanov.

Investigators claim that Bakhayev gave shelter to the other suspects in the case in his house in the Moscow Region.

“Investigators have questioned Bakhayev’s girlfriend and she has confirmed my client’s alibi defense. The Investigative Committee now plans to analyze Bakhayev’s phone calls to check my client’s and his girlfriend’s testimony,” Sadakhanov said.

According to Sadakhanov, the girlfriend’s testimony could be taken into account at the April 22 hearing when the court will discuss extending Bakhayev’s detention.

“Investigators can include this in their petition to the court, but the final decision can only be taken by the court,” the attorney said.

Nemtsov, co-chair of the Republican Party of Russia – People’s Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS) and former first deputy prime minister in the Yeltsin government, was fatally shot as he was walking home with a girlfriend in central Moscow late at night on February 27. He joined the opposition in the 2000s.

Five men have been arrested on suspicion of killing Nemtsov: Zaur Dadayev, Anzor Gubashev, Shadid Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhayev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov.

Investigators believe that Dadayev killed Nemtsov and that the other suspects were his accomplices.