A jury at Russia’s Moscow District Court Martial on June 29 found an associate of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov guilty of killing opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in 2015.
Zaur Dadayev, an ex-top commander of Kadyrov’s Sever (North) police battalion, as well as Anzor Gubashev, Shadid Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev, were found guilty. Sever, recruited mostly from former Chechen guerilla fighters, effectively serves as Kadyrov’s Praetorian Guard.
The judge has yet to sentence the suspects.
Dadayev has confessed to murdering Nemtsov for his criticism of Kadyrov and Islam and later retracted his confession. The other suspects, as well as Kadyrov himself, deny accusations of involvement in the murder.
Nemstov, a staunch critic of Kadyrov and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, was killed on Feb. 28, 2015 a stone’s throw from the Kremlin. He used to be a deputy prime minister of Russia and leader of the Union of Center-Right Forces, a liberal opposition party.
Investigators suspect Sever fighter Ruslan Mukhudinov, who is wanted by Russian authorities, and certain “unidentified persons” of being the organizers of the murder.
Mukhudinov used to be the driver of Ruslan Geremeyev, a top commander at Kadyrov’s Sever battalion.
Russian investigators have been trying to question Mukhudinov and Geremeyev, who were hiding in Chechnya, but these efforts were reportedly blocked by Chechen authorities.
In April 2015 Kadyrov permitted Chechen law enforcement agencies to fire at federal troops if their actions were not authorized by the Chechen government.
Previous murders
Many critics of Kadyrov have been assassinated over the past decade. Kadyrov has denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
Several Chechens have been convicted in Russia of murdering journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who investigated Kadyrov’s alleged violations, in 2006.
In 2006 Chechen police killed Russian intelligence officer Movladi Baisarov, an opponent of Kadyrov wanted in Chechnya on charges of kidnapping and murder.
Three Chechens have been convicted by a Moscow court of murdering lawmaker Ruslan Yamadayev, a political opponent of Kadyrov, in 2008.
Two associates of Kadyrov have been convicted by a United Arab Emirates court for the 2009 murder of Ruslan Yamadayev’s brother Sulim, head of a Russian military unit that clashed with Kadyrov’s forces. United Arab Emirates police believe lawmaker Adam Zelimkhayev, Kadyrov’s closest associate, to be the organizer of the crime.
Several Chechens have also been found guilty in Austria of the 2009 assassination of Umar Israilov, another critic of Kadyrov. Austrian police believe the murder was ordered by Kadyrov and have sent requests to Russia to question him.
Meanwhile, Oleg Orlov, head of human rights group Memorial, has accused Kadyrov of ordering the 2009 assassination of Natalia Estemirova, a human rights activist who investigated rights violations in Chechnya.
Human rights abuses
Human rights groups have accused Kadyrov’s subordinates of murders, kidnappings and torture. In 2006 to 2007, dozens of Kadyrov’s militants were convicted by Russian courts of fabricating terrorism cases to crack down on his opponents, according to the Memorial human rights group.
Since February, Chechen authorities have also rounded up dozens of men on suspicion of being gay and are torturing and humiliating the victims, and at least three of them have been killed, according to Human Rights Watch. Kadyrov’s press secretary Alvi Karimov has encouraged such murders by saying that gay men’s relatives would be expected to kill them.
Kadyrov has also hinted at murdering Russian opposition leaders Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Kara-Murza on his Instagram.
In the 1990s Kadyrov and his father Akhmat fought against the Russians in the first Chechen War but later switched their allegiance to Moscow. Akhmat Kadyrov was Chechnya’s leader in 2000 to 2004, while his son became the republic’s official chief in 2007.
Kadyrov went to Crimea to support its annexation by the Kremlin in 2014, while his fighters have been taking part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Donbas. Meanwhile, several Ukrainians have been convicted in show trials held in Chechnya.
