(Reuters) - Suggestions that Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was killed by Chechen Islamists are nonsense designed to deflect suspicion from President Vladimir Putin, associates of the slain opposition figure said on Monday.
Investigators have charged two men, including a former Chechen police official, over the shooting of Nemtsov within sight of the Kremlin walls on Feb. 27. Three more men have been arrested, and another blew himself up late on Saturday as police in Chechnya tried to detain him, Russian media said.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said the charged ex-policeman, Zaur Dadayev, was a pious Muslim who had been angered by publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Nemtsov had condemned an attack on Charlie Hebdo in which Islamist militants killed 12 people in January. But friends reject this as a motive, saying they do not believe Islamist gunmen acting alone could have shot him dead in one of the most closely guarded areas of central Moscow unless they had powerful and well-connected backers...
Russian media friendly to Vladimir Putin's is hyping the Islamic terrorist motive:
Russian investigators and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday reiterated suggestions that opposition leader Boris Nemtsov might have been killed for offending Muslims with his views on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. But while famous for his criticism of the Kremlin, Nemtsov was hardly known for his opinions on the Muslim faith.
Investigators on Sunday detained five men, all identified as Caucasus natives, for the gunning down of Nemtsov on Feb. 27 near the Kremlin.
Leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov leaped to defend one of the suspects — Zaur Dadayev, a former serviceman in the Chechen interior troops who reportedly confessed to the killing — as a Russian "patriot" and a pious Muslim who was angered by French magazine Charlie Hebdo's satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
"All who know Zaur confirm that he is a deep believer and also that he, like all Muslims, was shocked by the activities of Charlie and comments in support of printing the cartoons," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account.
We line up the statements made by Nemtsov on Charlie Hebdo that supposedly could have led to his death:
"The tragedy with the killing of 12 journalists of Charlie Hebdo magazine has shocked all normal people. My condolences to the families and loved ones of the innocently slain journalists. When Russia's Council of Muftis calls the actions of the publication's journalists a provocation and a sin, it is justifying the terrorists." (Facebook, Jan. 7)
"Tolerance ends there where violence begins. Many in Europe do not understand this. As a result, [French right-wing politician Marine] Le Pen will win." (Facebook, Jan. 8)
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