Boris Nemtsov, 1959-2015

Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge in the shadow of the Kremlin walls. And for three years, the official investigation has failed to shed light on the circumstances of the most high-profile political assassination in modern Russia. Russian authorities are categorically refusing to recognize the fact that Nemtsov was murdered for his political activities. The investigators and the Moscow District Military Court have rejected almost all applications submitted by the lawyers of Zhanna Nemtsova and Ms. Olga Mikhailova, in particular the applications to reclassify the crime under Article 277 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation as "encroachment on the life of a statesman or a public figure." The prosecution was brought under Article 105 of the Criminal Code, "Murder"-as in the cases of, for example, domestic murder out of jealousy, murder for commercial reasons, et cetera. Five suspects were charged with the execution of the crime. Yes, the perpetrators were quickly found, detained, put on trial, convicted, and sent to prison. But two key questions remain unanswered. All of them are natives of Chechnya, and some of them are close to Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, and his entourage. The law enforcement agencies have not managed to detain any of the organizers or masterminds of the murder, and only some of the actual perpetrators have been detained. Two key questions remain unanswered. The first is the motive behind the murder of my father. The investigative team and the court were silent on this. In Russia and across the world, politicians and experts and the general public understand that it was a politically motivated murder aimed at stopping [Boris Nemtsov's] activities in the Russian opposition.