Murder Suspect Released, Sent to Ukraine War
On August 10, 2024, Temirlan Eskerkhanov, convicted of the murder of Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, was released from a penal colony after reaching an agreement with the Ministry of Defense. He was then sent to perform tasks in the “special military operation” zone (Russia’s term for the war in Ukraine).
In March 2024, Eskerkhanov signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense, was pardoned, and released from the colony. He joined an assault unit and is now performing combat tasks in the SVO zone. His contract with the ex-convict is for one year.
Nemtsov was assassinated in the center of Moscow on February 27, 2015. Five suspects were detained in connection with the murder, while another suspect detonated a bomb during his arrest.
The investigation revealed that Ruslan Mukhudinov, former head of the “North” battalion, was the alleged guarantor and organizer of the murder. He remains at large and is being investigated separately.
In July 2017, the Moscow District Court found the five alleged perpetrators guilty of Nemtsov’s murder and sentenced them to 11 to 20 years in a strict regime colony and fines.
Eskerkhanov served a 14-year sentence and was fined 100,000 rubles. He also lost his police rank.