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            Nemtsov Murder Suspect May Have Confessed Under Torture

   by VOA News

   A member of the Kremlin's human rights council says there are reasons
   to believe the prime suspect in the killing of Russian opposition
   leader Boris Nemtsov confessed under torture.

   Andrei Babushkin told reporters Wednesday that he had seen "numerous
   wounds" on the body of Zaur Dadayev during a visit to the suspect's
   prison cell on Tuesday.

   Meanwhile, a Moscow newspaper says Dadayev has reversed his confession
   to the killing, telling the Moskovsky Komsomolets that he told
   authorities he had not killed Nemtsov and planned to plead innocent
   when he was brought before a judge. But he said once he was brought to
   court, he was not given a chance to speak.

   The paper also quotes Dadayev as saying he gave a false confession so
   police would free the friend who was with him when he was detained.

   On Sunday, a Russian judge announced Dadayev's confession, while saying
   authorities continue their investigation of four other suspects.

   All five appeared in a Moscow court and were detained as officials
   questioned them about the February 27 shooting death of Nemtsov, a
   staunch foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov was shot four
   times in the back as he walked across a bridge with his girlfriend in
   sight of the Kremlin.

   Judge Nataliya Mushnikova said Dadayev signed a confession although no
   details were disclosed about his role.

   The judge said a second suspect charged with murder in Nemtsov's death,
   Anzor Gubashev, had denied his involvement.

   Television footage showed Gubashev, who worked for a private security
   firm in Moscow, sitting in a jail cell holding a piece of paper over
   his face to hide it. Other images showed heavily armed police quickly
   escorting three hunched-over suspects into a small courtroom and
   locking them in barred cages.

   Besides Dadayev and Gubashev, authorities identified the other three
   suspects as Gubashev's younger brother Shagid, Ramsat Bakhayev and
   Tamerlan Eskerkhanov.

   Authorities said a sixth suspect blew himself up with a grenade as
   police tried to detain him in the Chechen capital, Grozny.

   Before the judge disclosed Dadayev's alleged involvement in the
   killing, his mother, Aaimani Dadayeva, told the Interfax news agency,
   "I can't believe it. He could not have committed this crime." She said
   her son has worked for Chechen law enforcement agencies for the last
   decade.

   Despite the detention of the five suspects, no information has emerged
   about a possible motive for the killing. Nemtsov's allies say his
   assassination was ordered at the highest levels of the Russian
   government to silence critics.

   All five suspects are from the restive North Caucasus region where
   Russia has fought two fierce wars in the last 20 years against
   separatists in Chechnya allied with Islamic fundamentalists. Security
   forces continue to clash with insurgents.

   Putin has called the killing "a provocation" and vowed the government
   would do everything to ensure those responsible are "properly
   punished."

   Nemtsov's killing occurred two days before he was to have led an
   anti-war and anti-Putin rally in Moscow. The opposition figure had also
   been working on a report about Russian military involvement in the
   Ukraine conflict.
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   ssed-under-torture/2675487.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nemtsov-murder-suspect-may-have-confessed-under-torture/2675487.html