Advocate of Nemtsov family challenges court's refusal to toughen article in case of politician's murder

An advocate of the Nemtsov family members of murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has filed a complaint to the Moscow City Court about the refusal to oblige investigators to investigate the case under Article "attempt on the life of a state or public figure".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the motion for reclassification of the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder was dismissed in October. The Nemtsov family members insist on reclassification of the criminal case from Article 105 (murder) to more serious Article 277 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation (attempt on the life of a state or public figure). On December 25, the Basmanny Court of Moscow refused to oblige the investigators to reclassify the criminal case.

"Today, I have filed an appeal to the Moscow City Court. In my appeal, I request to recognize the decision pronounced by the lower court instance as unreasonable, cancel it and oblige the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to reclassify the case," states advocate Vadim Prokhorov as quoted by the "TASS".

The advocate has emphasized that when killed, Boris Nemtsov was a deputy of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma, and earlier, he used to hold the posts of the First Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the faction in the State Duma. Meanwhile, Vadim Prokhorov has suggested that in case if "a deputy of the State Duma is murdered, a criminal case will then certainly be reclassified as 'a murder of a state figure'," the "RBC" reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.