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Lawyer says organizers of Nemtsov’s murder likely to be in Chechnya

The lawyer said Moscow’s investigators are doing their best but "in Chechnya, it is problematic
A view of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya Valery Matytsin/TASS
A view of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya
© Valery Matytsin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. Organizers of the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov are most likely to be hiding in the North Caucasian republic of Chechnya, Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer representing the aggrieved party, said on Thursday.

"Chechnya is the safest place for the organizers of Nemtsov’s murder. I think they are there," he told TASS.

He said Moscow’s investigators are doing their best but "in Chechnya, it is problematic."

The lawyer once again refuted media allegations about possible involvement in the crime of Ukrainian model Anna Duritskaya, who was with Nemtsov at the moment of the murder.

"It is an absolute lie. First, Anna really had two telephones, both of which were handed over to investigators. Second, they were introduced to each other by a well-known businessman and oligarch, not the one who is mentioned in the press," Prokhorov said, adding that investigators had already interrogated her and were unlikely to summon her to Moscow in the near future.

Boris Nemtsov, the co-chairman of the RPR-Parnas and a member of the Yaroslavl Region Dums (legislature), was shot dead in downtown Moscow late on February 27.

Five suspects - Zaur Dadayev, Anzor and Shadid Gubashev, Khamzad Bakhayev and Temirlan Eskerkhanov - were detained on charges of murder committed by an organized group by previous concert /Part 2, Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code/ and illegal possession of arms /Part 2, Article 222 of the Russian Criminal Code/. These charges bear a punishment of a prison term of from eight to 20 years or a life sentence.

According to investigators, Dadayev shot at Nemtsov, Eskerkhanov watched him, the other three were accomplices. Neither of the five admits his guilt.