Mourners pay tribute to Boris Nemtsov in Russia

One by one, thousands of mourners filed past the white-lined coffin of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov yesterday, many offering flowers as they paid their last respects to one of the most prominent figures of Russia’s opposition.

So many came that when the viewing ended after its scheduled four hours, a line of people hundreds of metres long still waited outside the Sakharov Centre, named after the Soviet-era dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

Nemtsov was shot to death late Friday while walking on a bridge near the Kremlin with a companion. No suspects have been arrested.