ECtHR recognizes inactivity of investigators in Nemtsov’s case

The inactivity of investigators reduced the chances of identifying those who ordered the murder of politician Boris Nemtsov, and top-ranking Chechen officials were never questioned in the case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) noted, recognizing a violation of the article of the Convention on Human Rights on the right to life. The ECtHR awarded a politician’s daughter compensation of 20,000 euros against the backdrop of the refusal of the Russian authorities to comply with the decisions of the ECtHR.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in March 2021, the “Mediazona”* and the “Scanner Project” published a journalistic investigation. According to its results, the chronology of phone calls, videos, and information about air travelling indicates a connection with the Boris Nemtsov’s murder of several natives of Chechnya who were not sentenced, although they names are known. Advocate Vadim Prokhorov emphasized that Ruslan Geremeev was never questioned within the criminal case on the murder of the politician. When commenting on the Ramzan Kadyrov’s report that Ruslan Geremeev stayed in Ukraine, human rights defenders excluded the possibility that Ruslan Geremeev would be questioned.

The ECtHR granted the complaint filed by Zhanna Nemtsova in connection with the investigation into the criminal case on the murder of her father. The ECtHR recognized that the investigators and the court did not properly check the information about the possible involvement of top-ranking Chechen officials and militaries in ordering the crime and about its alleged political motive, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.

“Boris Nemtsov was a prominent politician, one of the opposition leaders in Russia, who sharply criticized his opponents, including top-ranking officials from Chechnya,” the ECtHR noted in its decision.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.