MOSCOW, December 7 (RAPSI) – The Moscow District Military Court has dismissed a motion to question Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of the Chechen Republic, as a witness in the criminal case over the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer representing the Nemtsov estate, told RAPSI.

The lawyer noted that some of the petitions lodged by him and Olga Mikhailova, another Nemtsov’s family lawyer, were granted in part as the court agreed to summon three Chechens, deputy commander of the North Battalion of Russian Interior Troops Ruslan Germeyev, his brother Arthur, and Alibek Delimkhanov, the head of the North Battalion, as witnesses.

Nevertheless, the Military Court refused to summon Ramzan Kadyrov, MP Adam Delimkhanov, Senator Suleyman Germeyev, and some others as witnesses in the case.

Prokhorov said that the fact the court had agreed to question at least three witnesses was a sign of significant progress as compared with the situation existing at the stage of investigation.

At the end of June, Russia’s Investigative Committee reported that investigation into the case of Zaur Dadayev, Anzor Gubashev, Shadid Gubashev, Temerlan Eskerkhanov, and Khamzat Bakhayev who stand charged with a contract murder in the composition of an organized gang, and of illegal acquisition, transportation and possession of firearms, had been completed.

According to investigators, in late September 2014, Ruslan Mukhudinov, a former officer in the Chechen Interior Ministry, and some unnamed persons offered Beslan Shavanov and the five accused to murder Nemtsov for 15 million rubles ($237,500).

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 28 February. According to investigators, 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.

Prosecution of Shavanov was dismissed in November 2015 because of his death by self-destruction in the course of his apprehending in Chechnya.

Investigation into Mukhudinov, the alleged mastermind behind this high-profile murder, who has been on the international wanted list since 2015 and other unidentified persons, is still going on.