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Jury for hearing Nemtsov’s murder case to be selected from 100 candidates

Earlier, the Moscow District Military Court has extended until December 30 the arrest of persons suspected of Nemtsov’s murder
Portrait of Boris Nemtsov Sergei Fadeichev/TASS
Portrait of Boris Nemtsov
© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The Moscow District Military Court will set up a jury from among 100 candidates to hear oppositionist Boris Nemtsov’s murder case, lawyer for the Nemtsov family Vadim Prokhorov said on Tuesday.

On August 24, 100 persons will be invited to the court for selecting the board of jurors," the lawyer said.

Under law, the parties to the hearings will have to select 12 basic and no less than 4-6 reserve jurors. After the juror board is selected, a judge will appoint a date for hearing the merits of the case.

As the lawyer said, the court has rejected on Tuesday a petition by Nemtsov’s daughter Zhanna to requalify the charges pressed against the suspects from "the Murder" to "an Attempt on the Life of a State or Public Figure."

The affected party continues insisting that the politician’s murder was linked to his oppositionist activity.

"This was the murder not for household but for political motives as he was an oppositionist, a renowned politician. We believe that the murder has not been solved because only the executors and not masterminds are in the defendants’ dock," Prokhorov said, adding he hoped that the murder would be shortly solved.

Court extends arrest of suspects in oppositionist Nemtsov’s murder

The Moscow District Military Court has extended until December 30 the arrest of persons suspected of oppositionist Boris Nemtsov’s murder, lawyer for a suspect in the case Shamsudin Tsakayev told TASS earlier on Tuesday.

"During preliminary hearings on the case held the other day, the prosecutor announced a petition to extend the measure of restraint in the form of arrest for the five suspects. The court granted the petition, extending the arrest to December 30," the lawyer said.

As the lawyer said earlier, the court granted the accused persons’ request for a jury trial. According to the court’s spokesman, the jury selection has been scheduled for August 24.

Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister under then-President Boris Yeltsin, co-chairman of the Parnas party and lawmaker of the Yaroslavl regional legislature, was gunned down in the center of Moscow on February 27, 2015. Five persons were arrested on March 8 last year on suspicion of murdering the politician: Zaur Dadayev, Anzor and Shadid Gubahev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev.

Depending on their role and degree of their involvement, they are pressed with charges under part 2, article 105 ("Contract Murder Committed by an Organized Group") and part 3, article 222 of Russia’s Criminal Code ("Illegal Acquisition, Transfer, Storage, Transportation and Possession of Firearms and Ammunition by an Organized Group"). Article 105 carries a punishment of up to life imprisonment.

The accused persons are denying their complicity in Nemtsov’s murder.