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Reports that Nemtsov murder suspects beaten cannot be yet confirmed — public monitor

A newspaper reported earlier that the members of the Public Monitoring Commission, who had met with the suspects at Moscow detention center, found traces of torture and beating on their bodies

MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Reports claiming that the three suspects held over the killing of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov have been beaten cannot be yet confirmed, the chairman of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, Anton Tsvetkov, said on Tuesday.

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported earlier in the day that the members of the Public Monitoring Commission, who had met with Zaur Dadaev, Anzor and Shagid Gubashevs at Moscow’s Lefortovo detention center, found "traces of torture and beating" on their bodies.

"We are carefully checking into this information. The information that they were beaten is not yet confirmed," said Tsvetkov, who is also a member of the Russian Civic Chamber.

The commission has no official position on this, and there is only the opinion of some of its members, he said in comments to the reports that the commission has prepared a statement to be sent to the Russian law enforcement bodies.

Tsvetkov did not rule out that he could personally meet with the suspects on Wednesday to check the reports.

Moscow’s Basmanny Court has arrested five people in connection with the murder of Nemtsov, who was gunned down in downtown Moscow on February 27. Two of them — Zaur Dadaev and Anzor Gubashev — have been formally charged with the killing. The three other suspects are Khamzad Bakhayev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Shagid Gubashev.