"Kommersant": in case of Boris Nemtsov's murder, defendants to be tested for drug addiction

One of the examinations appointed as a part of the investigation into the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder is to answer the question about the possible involvement of five defendants in drug trafficking and their possible drug addiction, the "Kommersant" reports today.

Boris Nemtsov was shot and killed in Moscow on February 27. Five persons, including Zaur Dadaev, Anzor and Shagid Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhaev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, were detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder. They would not plead guilty.

The "Kommersant" reports with reference to the Prosecutor's Office of Ingushetia that on March 5, Zaur Dadaev and his former colleagues from the Chechen battalion "Sever" (North) were detained at the exit of Magas under the measures for inspection of possible involvement in drug trafficking and were brought to the Federal Drug Control Service (known as FSKN) for Ingushetia. The results of the inspection were not disclosed, the newspaper reports.

According to Zaur Dadaev, on that very day, Ingush policemen brought him to FSB operatives, who were interested not in drugs, but in the circumstances of the murder of Boris Nemtsov. On March 7, Zaur Dadaev was transported by plane to Moscow, where he was questioned, charged with the activist's murder and arrested; his colleague detained together with him was set free, the "Kommersant" reports.

"Meanwhile, the message of the Prosecutor's Office has actually confirmed the version of the defence and of Zaur Dadaev himself, according to which, he was taken into custody two days before the official detention in the case. On the other hand, the explanation of the Prosecutor's Office denies the other version of Zaur Dadaev, according to which, he was kidnapped by unidentified power agents in black uniform," the author of the article notes.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.