Five accused of killing Boris Nemtsov to stand trial


The Major Cases Department of the Investigative Committee has finished the investigation against Zaur Dadayev, Shadid Gubashev, Anzor Gubashev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev charged with a contract murder committed by and organized group and illegal circulation of firearms (Part 2, items “g” and “h” of Article 105 and Part 3 of Article 22 of the RF Penal Code).

According to investigators, in late September 2014 Ruslan Mukhudinov and other individuals offered Beslan Shavanov, Dadayev, Anzor and Shadid Gubashev, Bakhayev and Eskerkhanov kill Boris Nemtsov for a fee of at least 15 million rubles. The said individuals agreed to the conditions and having set up a group started planning the crime.

They prepared for the assassination carefully: they studied Nemtsov’s lifestyle, his residences and the places he frequented, put him under surveillance and chose the way and place of the murder, necessary weapons, vehicles and communication means. They also looked for the ways and routes of fleeing the crime scene.

The investigators have managed to restore the timeline of the events on the day Nemtsov was killed. On 27 February 2015, at about 11 AM, Zaur Dadayev carrying a 9mm gun together with Anzor Gubashev and Shavanov arrived to the residential building in Malaya Ordynka Street where Nemtsov lived to watch him and possibly kill. At about 9:45 the same day, when Nemtsov was driving to GUM shopping mall, the perpetrators followed him and continued shadowing him. After Nemtsov and Anna Duritskaya left the building and were headed home, Shavanov and Gubashev signaled Dadayev that the conditions were right for the murder and filled him in on Nemtstov’s route. At about 11:31, Dadayev following Nemtsov and Duritskaya along a sidewalk of Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge made at least 6 shots at Nemtsov. The man was killed on the spot.

At the moment of the crime Anzor Gubashev and Shavanov were in a car watching the neighborhood in order to warn the killer if there was any kind of danger, including arrival of the police. After the murder Dadayev, Shavanov and Anzor Gubashev took off immediately. Later Mukhudinov, Shadid Gubashev, Eskerkhanov, Bakhayev and others helped the three accomplices to hide from the police and leave Moscow Region.

The investigators checked the statements made by Dadayev and Anzor Gubashev that they killed Nemtsov out of religious motives, as he had supported Prophet Mohammed’s  caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. However, the evidence shows that the members of the organized group had started preparing the murder in September 2014, which makes the religious motive unviable. The same evidence confirms the mercenary motive, that is the murder for which they had received at least 15 million rubles.

The investigation against Shavanov was dropped in November 2015 due to his death during his suicidal bombing in the city of Grozny, when the police tried to detain him.

The investigators have enough evidence, so the criminal case against the five accused with the approved indictment has been referred to court.

The investigation against Mukhudinov who ordered and organized the crime and has been wanted since November 2015, and against other unidentified people is continued.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                          V.I. Markin 

29 June 2016 17:39

Page address: https://en.sledcom.ru/news/item/1051075