21:44, 5 July 2016

"Rosbalt": Nemtsov's murder case arrives in court

The Moscow District Military Court has instructed Judge Yuri Zhitnikov to consider the case of the defendants accused of killing Boris Nemtsov. Judge Zhitnikov worked earlier in the North-Caucasian District Military Court and rendered a guilty verdict in the case of an armed grouping of Oleg Gagiev, the "Rosbalt" reports.

Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on February 27, 2015, in Moscow. Within his murder case five natives from Chechnya and Ingushetia were arrested. The figurants in the case are also two officers of the Chechen battalion "Sever" (North): Ruslan Mukhudinov, who is considered to be the customer of the murder and already announced wanted; and Ruslan Geremeev.

Zhitnikov is a member of the Cassation Board of the Court, but the case is entrusted to him, because he has experience of trying resonant cases involving the jury and held in the presence of many reporters, the "Rosbalt" writes, citing its source, familiar with the situation.

The source cited the trial of Gagiev's grouping as an example of such cases. Judge Zhitnikov ran the trial at the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don. Almost immediately after passing the verdict, he was transferred to Moscow.

Besides, the "Rosbalt" quotes the indictment that has arrived in the court. The document states that investigators failed to establish the model of the pistol, from which Boris Nemtsov was killed. The indictment also fails to specify, who of the defendants and of the "unidentified persons" used the pistol on the day of the murder, the "Rosbalt" adds.

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