Soldier ‘admits’ involvement in Nemtsov shooting

Russian news agencies said yesterday that one of the suspects in the killing of leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov has admitted involvement in the crime.

Judge Nataliya Mushnikova said Zaur Dadaev made a statement confirming his guilt, according to the reports, which did not specify his alleged actions.

Dadaev is among five suspects detained in the February 27 killing, when Nemtsov was shot while walking on a bridge near the Kremlin.

Another man, Anzor Gubashev, was charged in the killing, and a hearing for three other unnamed suspects was under way, court spokeswoman Anna Fadeeva said earlier Sunday.

Dadaev and Gubashev were identified as suspects by Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov a day earlier.

Bortnikov gave no details of how the men were detained or specifics on their connection to the killing.

However, state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti said the pair was detained in Ingushetia, a republic bordering Chechnya, citing Ingush Security Council chief Albert Barakhoev.

Dadaev served in a battalion of Interior Ministry troops in Chechnya and Gubashev had worked in a private security company in Moscow, Barakhoev was quoted as saying.

There was scant information about the identity of the three other suspects. Barakhoev was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying two others were seized at the same time as Dadaev and Gubashev, but there had been no official announcement of their detention.

Shortly before the court session began, investigating committee spokesman Vladimir Markin revealed there was a fifth suspect, but gave no details.

Nemtsov’s killing shocked Russia’s beleaguered opposition. Suspicion in the opposition is high that the killing was ordered by the Kremlin in retaliation for Nemtsov’s adamant criticism of president Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s top investigative body said it was investigating several possible motives, including that Nemtsov was killed in an attempt to smear Putin. It also said it was looking into possible connections to Islamic extremism and to Nemtsov’s personal life.

Many believe Nemtsov’s death in a tightly secured area near the Kremlin would not have been possible without official involvement, and could be an attempt to scare other government foes.

Putin, who had dubbed Nemtsov’s killing a “provocation”, made no comment on the detentions.