Five men have been jailed over the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zaur Dadayev, Khamzat Bakhayev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Shadid and Anzor Gubashev were found guilty in June of organising and carrying out the contract killing on Russia's former deputy prime minister.

Mr Nemtsov was shot dead on a bridge just metres from the Kremlin as he walked home at night with his girlfriend in February 2015.

Image: Boris Nemtsov was gunned down in Moscow

At the time of his death, the politician had been working on a report on Russia's role in the Ukraine.

Dadayev, who was found guilty of firing the four fatal shots, was handed the longest sentence of 20 years in prison.


His four accomplices received jail terms ranging from 11 to 19 years.

Dadayev was an officer in the security forces of Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a key supporter of Mr Putin

Image: Zaur Dadayev, who pulled the trigger, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison

While welcoming the verdict, allies of Mr Nemtsov are angry that Mr Kadyrov himself has not been investigated over the killing.

Reacting to the sentence, Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer for Mr Nemtsov's daughter Zhanna, said: "The shortcoming of this sentencing is that those who ordered and organised this crime are not in the dock."

The organised gang, all ethnic Chechens from Russia's volatile North Caucasus, had been promised a bounty of 15 million roubles (£194,202) between them for the high-profile assassination, according to state prosecutors.

Speaking after the sentencing, Dadayev's lawyer said he would be appealing the sentence and that there was "incontrovertible proof" his client had not committed the crime.