Relatives and friends of defendants in case of Boris Nemtsov's murder claim their innocence

Many residents of Chechnya have found as predictable the verdict of the jury to find natives of Chechnya and Ingushetia guilty of the Boris Nemtsov's murder. According to the Chechen residents, persons who ordered and organized the murder will not be named. Relatives of the defendants treat them as innocent.

Out of more than 30 residents of Chechnya interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, 22 noted that they treated Boris Nemtsov with respect. Meanwhile, 18 people said that they were not interested in the trial in the case of the politician's murder.

"I respected Boris Nemtsov primarily for his active position to support the end of the first Chechen war. He even collected a million signatures, and later he was also against a new war," said Alkhazur, a resident of Chechnya.

"The prisoners' dock contains only ordinary executors. No organizers and no customers have been named, although the traces lead to subordinates of Ramzan Kadyrov," noted the leader of a local NGO.

Relatives of four persons involved in the case Zaur Dadaev, Khamzat Bakhaev, Anzor and Shagid Gubashev live in the Malgobek District of Ingushetia.

Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, the fifth defendant in the case, is a native of the Shelkovsky District of Chechnya. According to his relative, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov was not involved in the murder. The relative has also noted that after the arrest of Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, his wife gave birth to the seventh child.

Khamzat Bakhaev has six minor children, his female relative reports.

Beslan Shavanov, a former fighter of the "Sever" (North) battalion, who was also suspected of involvement in the Boris Nemtsov's murder and who committed suicide during his detention in Grozny, left two minor children.

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