MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Zhanna Nemtsova, a daughter of killed Russian opposition figure Boris Nemstov, has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the court’s verdict handing down lengthy sentences to five convicts, her lawyers told TASS on Thursday.

"We ask to cancel the verdict and refer the case to prosecution for re-defining the crime incriminated to the defendants, from Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code to the graver one, Article 277 of the Russian Criminal Code (from a premeditated murder to encroachment on the life of a statesman or a public figure)," Olga Mikhailova said.

Article 277 stipulates longer prison terms and does not have limitation periods for punishment, the lawyers said. Besides, it gives the most correct definition to the crime.

"Nemtsov was a politician and public figure. Nobody can deny it, so we think that this crime can be defined correctly, namely under Article 277 of the Russian Criminal Code," Mikhailova and Vadim Prokhorov explained.

Earlier, the convicts’ lawyers appealed the verdict. They asked the Supreme Court to cancel the verdict and to refer the case for rehearing, starting with selection of the jury.

On July 13, Moscow’s District Military Court found all five of the defendants guilty of Nemtsov’s murder and handed them 11-to 20-year sentences in a maximum-security penal colony. The decision was made by Judge Yury Zhitnikov based on the jury’s guilty verdict.

That being said, the final sentence for the defendants is as follows: Zaur Dadayev received 20 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 rubles ($1,659), Anzor Gubashev - 19 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 rubles; Shadid Gubashev - 16 years behind bars and a fine of 100,000 rubles, Temirlan Eskerkhanov - 14 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 rubles, and Khamzat Bakhayev - 11 years behind bars and a fine of 100,000 rubles.

Nemtsov’s murder

Boris 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 downtown Moscow on February 27, 2015. Five men were arrested on suspicion of murdering the politician: Zaur Dadayev, Anzor and Shadid Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev. Another suspect, Beslan Shavanov, put up resistance to police and blew himself up.