Zaur Dadayev, a soldier from southern Russia’s predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya, was on Thursday sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Russian opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, outside the Kremlin in 2015.
Four other men were convicted for various roles in the murder, which sent shock waves throughout Russia’s fragmented political opposition.
They bagged between 11 and 19 years each according to the state media.
Nemtsov, a scathing critic of President Vladimir Putin, was murdered days before he was expected to lead a major opposition march and release a controversial report implicating the Russian military in the Ukraine conflict.
Dadayev reportedly confessed early in the investigation to have killed Nemtsov for insulting Islam and Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, however, he later recanted his confession. (NAN)