25 May 2017, 12:28
Alexei Venediktov reports Boris Nemtsov's complaints about threats in connection with "Charlie Hebdo"
Today, Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of the "Echo Moskvy", has been summoned to the trial in the case on the murder of Boris Nemtsov. According to an advocate of the victim family, Alexei Venediktov was one of the last persons who talked to Boris Nemtsov. Alexei Venediktov claimed that Boris Nemtsov informed him of the threats voiced against him.
Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on February 27, 2015, in Moscow. The defendants in the case are the natives of Chechnya and Ingushetia Zaur Dadaev, the brothers Anzor and Shagid (also named by mass media as Shadid) Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhaev. Investigators believe that Ruslan Mukhudinov was the customer of the murder.
The judge has refused to question Alexei Venediktov in the presence of the jury and explained his decision by saying that none of the defendants is being charged with threatening Boris Nemtsov, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports from the courtroom.
Alexei Venediktov has testified that on February 27, 2015, prior to an interview in air of the "Echo Moskvy", Boris Nemtsov said that in recent two months, the number of threats against him increased because of his position with regard to the cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad published by the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo" in January 2015.
According to Alexei Venediktov, when speaking about threats, Boris Nemtsov pointed to top-ranking officials in Chechnya. The witness has also added that the pressure on the politician was intensified after in January 2015 Boris Nemtsov published an article about the murder of "Charlie Hebdo" journalists.
Alexei Venediktov has also said that after a while, in Instagram, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov spoke very sharply against those people who supported the "Charlie Hebdo". "That was what we discussed on February 27, 2015," noted the witness.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Source: CK correspondent
