BERLIN, February 11. /TASS/. The German federal prosecutor’s office has re-arrested the Russian suspect in the high-profile murder of a Georgian national in Berlin, the office said in a report made public on Tuesday.
"The federal prosecutor’s office requested today the issuance of a new arrest warrant for Russian national Vadim K., aka Vadim S., suspected of killing Tornike K. holding Russian and Georgian citizenship, as well as of violating the law on arms in circulation," the report said.
This arrest warrant replaces the one issued by a court in Berlin on August 24, 2019. According to DPA news agency, this will enable officers of the prosecutor’s office to question the suspect once again.
Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili (also known as Tornike Kavtarashvili), 40, was gunned down in Berlin on August 23. The office of Berlin’s prosecutor later in the day declared that a suspect, identified as 49-year-old resident of Russia, was detained. As a result, Germany later expelled two Russian embassy staffers due to what was described as insufficient cooperation by the Russian authorities in investigating the killing. Moscow responded in kind.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference following the Normandy Quartet summit in Paris on December 9 that the killed man was one of the masterminds of Moscow metro blasts and that his name was on the wanted list. He said Russia had repeatedly requested his extradition. Putin reiterated that the killed man had fought alongside militants in the North Caucasus. Russia dismisses any involvement in the Berlin killing.