Russian court says Nemtsov murder suspect’s guilt not established

(Interfax – March 11, 2015)

The Basmannyy Court has given Zaur Dadayev, accused in the case of murder of politician Boris Nemtsov, an opportunity to state his position regarding the investigators’ request for his arrest, the press-service of the court has said.

“Dadayev was given the right to speak. But he thought that the criminal case was being heard, while the judge said that he needed to state his opinion regarding investigator’s request for his arrest,” spokeswoman for the court Anna Fadeyeva told Interfax on Tuesday [10 March].

According to her, Dadayev said that he “did not agree with the investigator’s opinion”.

A spokesperson for the Moscow City Court explained that during the hearing of a petition for preventive measure of pre-trial detention submitted by investigators the issue of evidence and guilt of the accused is not being considered.

[Passage omitted to end: background information]

[On 8 March, a judge at Moscow’s Basmannyy court said that Dadayev’s guilt is confirmed by his confession. On 10 March, Dadayev told Russian newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets that he is “not guilty”, complaining that the judge did not allow him to speak during the hearing. For details, see BBCM report: “Suspected killer of Nemtsov tells Russian paper he is ‘not guilty'”, published on 10 March ]