Assassination Of Boris Nemtsov Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

The assassination of Boris Nemtsov occurred in central Moscow on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge on 27 February 2015. An unknown assailant fired seven or eight shots from a Makarov pistol; four of them hit Boris Nemtsov in the head, heart, liver and stomach, killing him almost instantly. He died hours after appealing to the public to support a march against Russia's war in Ukraine. Nemtsov's Ukrainian partner Anna Duritskaya survived the attack as its sole eyewitness. The assassination was met with worldwide condemnation and concern for the situation of the Russian opposition. Russian authorities also condemned the murder and vowed to conduct a thorough investigation. Duritskaya, having testified before the investigative team, returned to Ukraine on 2 March. Because of reported threats to her life, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin provided Duritskaya with state protection. By 3 March, the official investigation concluded that Nemtsov had been tracked from 11: 00 am when he met Duritskaya in Sheremetyevo Airport. Nemtsov had been followed by three alternating cars en route from the airport to the city. On 23: 22, the group of killers was ordered to move to the assigned spot, when Nemtsov and Duritskaya left the GUM café. On 23: 29, the car with the assailant turned around under Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge and approached the stairs leading to the bridge. On 23: 30, the assailant walked upstairs onto the bridge and moved towards Nemtsov and Duritskaya. Having walked past them, he turned around and fired at Nemtsov's back. After the assailant got into the car, the vehicle moved from the bridge to Bolotnaya Street and fled. The car in which the assailant had escaped was later found and identified. On 10 March, Moskovskij Komsomolets published alleged CCTV photos of the suspects' vehicle, suggesting that they were following Nemtsov since September 2014. Just before his murder, Nemtsov had stated: 'The contract between Kadyrov and Putin—money in exchange for loyalty—is coming to an end. Where will Mr Kadyrov's 20,000 men go? What will they demand? How will they act? When will they come to Moscow? '[46] In late June 2017, five Chechen men were found guilty by a jury in a court at Moscow for agreeing to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles (US$253,000) ; neither the identity nor whereabouts of the person who hired them is known. In July 2017, Zaur Dadaev was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a Russian court, while the other perpetrators were handed between 11 and 19 years each. Nemtsov was buried on 3 March 2015 at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete and Speaker of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz were not allowed to attend the funeral due to travel bans imposed by Russia. The travel bans bar certain EU and Western politicians from visiting Russia for their alleged 'anti-Russian activities'. Russia's sanctions were imposed in response to Western-led sanctions against officials close to the Kremlin for their alleged conduct during the Ukrainian Crisis. Kalniete stated that 'Since I have always taken a clear and explicit language on Russia's role in Ukraine, I had suspicions that it could happen.' The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called the ban a 'high affront'. A Russian court decided not to grant the request of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader jailed for 15 days for distributing fliers, for a temporary release to attend the funeral.