Convenient? While two North Caucasus men have been formally arrested and charged for the murder of Boris Nemtsov (and three others arrested as suspected accomplices), The Telegraph reports [2] a sixth suspect, Bislan Shavanov, decided to blow himself up with a grenade when police surrounded his home in Chechnya.
Zaur Dadayev in court today... Aymani Dadayeva, Mr Dadayev’s mother, told Russian media that her son served for ten years in the “North” battalion in Chechnya, an interior ministry unit headed by relatives of Ramzan Kadyrov, the republic’s fiercely pro-Putin leader.
[3]
A press release from Mr Kadyrov’s press service shows that a Zaur Dadayev serving in interior ministry forces in Chechnya was awarded with a medal issued by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's then president, in 2010. It was unclear if it was the same man and Mr Kadyrov, who frequently accuses Russian opposition figures of being agents of Western intelligence services, has yet to comment on the detentions.
In televised comments, Mrs Dadayeva said she believed her son was innocent. “Please understand correctly,” she said. “He served honourably and very bravely in the army of the Chechen Republic, for Russia. Please find the killer. This is a mistake, a very big mistake. He could not have done this.”
and Anzor Gubashev home video just hours after the murder of Nemtsov... Zurpan Gubasheva, Mr Gubashev’s mother, said she would “never believe” that her sons were guilty. “They were never aggressive, they never took anything from anybody,” she told LifeNews. “When we needed to kill a chicken we had to ask the neighbours.”
[4]
Five suspects have been arrested and charged... (via Interfax) [5]
The Investigative Committee of Russia has lodged a motion in court for the arrest of five people which the investigation believes were involved in the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
"The Investigative Committee motions for the arrest of five suspects related to the murder of Boris Nemtsov. The investigation continues," spokesman for the committee Vladimir Markin twitted on Sunday.
Nemtsov, an opposition leader and a former Russian deputy prime minister, was killed in the center of Moscow late on February 27. Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said on Saturday that two men identified as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder.
Markin said that the detainees are suspected of both organizing and perpetrating the crime. He said investigators continue identifying people related to the murder.
Defiant...
Zaur Dadayev and Anzor Gubashev, both from Russia's troubled North Caucasus region, appeared at Moscow's Basmanny Court, where the presiding judge said that Mr Dadayev had confessed to the crime under questioning.
Three other men, Shagid Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev, were formally arrested as suspected accomplices at the court. All five were remanded in custody.
During the hearing the latter three men tried to hide their faces using their jackets, while Mr Dadayev looked defiantly at media cameras and raised his index finger, in a gesture often associated with Islamists. No suggested motive for the killing was outlined in court.
But, as The Telegraph explains, [2]a sixth decided to take another path...
Meanwhile, in Chechnya, a sixth suspect, Bislan Shavanov, blew himself up with a grenade as police tried to detain him, Russian media reported.
Officers surrounded the man at an apartment in Grozny on Saturday evening, but he was killed by a hand grenade that exploded as he tossed it towards them, a law enforcement source told Interfax.
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The suspects are the suspected hitmen, according to officials, who added that the masterminds behind the murder are still at large.
