Nemtsov Murder Suspect Blows Himself Up

Suspect charged in killing is said to have confessed
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 8, 2015 4:20 PM CDT
Nemtsov Murder Suspect Blows Himself Up
Three men, from the left: Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, Shagid Gubashev and Khamzad Bakhaev, suspected of involvement in the killing of Boris Nemtsov, sit in a courtroom in Moscow March 8, 2015.   (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Well, that seems settled: Not only has Russia charged two and detained three others in the murder of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, but one of those charged has apparently confessed. And a sixth suspect blew himself up last night when police approached his apartment in Chechnya, reports Interfax via the New York Times. A judge announced in a Moscow court today that suspect Zaur Dadayev, a Chechen police officer who battled Islamic militants, had confessed that he helped kill the Vladimir Putin critic. But the second charged suspect, Chechen security guard Anzor Gubashev, pleaded not guilty. Russian authorities are yet to explain how the plot unfolded or what motivations lay behind it.

The guy who blew himself up is said to be Beslan Shavanov, 30, who holed up in his Grozny apartment when police came to grab him, Russia 24 reports via CNN. With his building surrounded, Shavanov apparently tried to flee, tossing a grenade at police and blowing himself up. Russia's Sputnik News says that another suspect claims to have an alibi for the night Nemtsov was gunned down on a Moscow bridge: "At the time of the murder, I was at work as I usually am every day," says Tamerlan Eskerkhanov. "There are many people, my colleagues, who will confirm this." Nemtsov's daughter says she's not surprised that two of the suspects are from the Caucasus region, which has rebelled against Moscow for years: "It was predictable," she says. (See what Nemtsov was working on at the time of his murder.)

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