Russia hands lengthy jail terms to five Chechens convicted of assassinating opposition leader Boris Nemtsov
Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down just metres from the Kremlin in 2015
A Russian court on Thursday handed jail terms ranging from 11 to 20 years to five Chechen men for organising and carrying out the contract killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
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 formal internal troop commander in Chechnya.
A jury in June found all five guilty of the contract killing after a marathon trial that Nemtsov’s supporters say failed to unmask the masterminds.
Nemtsov, a 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.