Zaur Dadayev sentenced for contract killing of Russian opposition politician, after trial dismissed by Nemtsov’s allies as a cover-up

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A man convicted of the murder of the Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, after a trial denounced by the family and allies of the Kremlin critic as a cover-up.

On Thursday, a Russian court gave lengthy jail terms to five Chechen men found guilty of the contract killing of Nemtsov, but his allies say the masterminds behind the crime remain unidentified.

Prosecutors had asked on Wednesday for Zaur Dadayev, who carried out the shooting in February 2015, to be sentenced to life. It was not immediately clear why the judge chose the shorter term. Four others convicted of involvement in the killing of Nemtsov on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow were sentenced to terms ranging from 11 to 19 years.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Boris Nemtsov speaking at an opposition rally in 2011. Photograph: Epsilon/Getty Images

In June, a jury found all five men guilty of carrying out the hit for a fee of $250,000 (£193,000), after a marathon trial that Nemtsov’s supporters say failed to unmask those who ordered the killing.

Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, was a leading opponent of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his assassination sent shockwaves through Russia’s beleaguered opposition supporters. The murder was the most high-profile political killing in the country since Putin rose to power 17 years ago.

The convicted men – Dadayev, brothers Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev – are all ethnic Chechens from Russia’s volatile North Caucasus.

Dadayev was an officer in the security forces of Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. Nemtsov’s allies have criticised investigators for not studying the possible role of Kadyrov in the killing. During the trial the judge refused a request to summon Kadyrov for questioning.

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“Neither the organisers nor the masterminds were in the dock,” Vadim Prokhorov, the lawyer representing Nemtsov’s daughter, told journalists after the sentencing.

“No one any longer doubts that the trail leads to the close circle of Ramzan Kadyrov. The trail leads at least as far as Grozny [the Chechen capital], and perhaps higher,” he said, hinting at complicity from top Russian officials.

Nemtsov’s close ally, the opposition politician Ilya Yashin, criticised the sentence for Dadayev and said: “It’s impossible to consider the crime solved while the masterminds and organisers are still at liberty.”

Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report