08:30, 29 March 2022

Rights defenders doubt possibility of interrogating Ruslan Geremeev

Although the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, disclosed the whereabouts of Ruslan Geremeev, a figurant in the Boris Nemtsov murder case, human rights defenders rule out any chances of interrogating Geremeev.

Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow on February 27, 2015. On July 13, 2017, a court in Moscow found the natives of Chechnya, Zaur Dadaev, Anzor Gubashev, Shadid Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhaev, guilty of the murder and sentenced them to prison terms from 11 to 20 years. The figurants of the case were also Ruslan Mukhudinov, a Chechen officer, who was considered to be the organizer of the murder; Beslan Shavanov, who was killed at detention; and Ruslan Geremeev, an officer of the battalion "Sever" (North).

On March 26, Ramzan Kadyrov announced on his Telegram channel that Ruslan Geremeev was in Ukraine.

Vadim Prokhorov, an advocate, reminded the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent of how law enforcers had earlier tried to question Ruslan Geremeev.

"Initially, Geremeev was a witness; and they tried to interrogate him. Captain Kamashev, now, in my opinion, he is a major, who was sent to interrogate Geremeev, returned with nothing. He arrived in Chechnya, found Geremeev's house, knocked on the gate, no one opened it, and he went back. This was the investigators' attitude to the demand to interrogate Geremeev. Then we were already told that the interrogation was impossible, since it was not possible to establish the whereabouts of Geremeev," Vadim Prokhorov has explained.

Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, has ruled out any possibility of questioning Ruslan Geremeev. According to his version, no one will tempt fate and try to reach him. "He will already be a hero who has risked his life for Russian president; Kadyrov and Geremeev are already above the law," Mr Kutaev has concluded.

Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civic Assistance" Committee*, has also ruled out any chances of interrogating Geremeev.

"Now, no one will even think about such a possibility. The interrogation of Geremeev depends on instructions from above. I don't know what should happen for someone from above to give such an order to interrogate Geremeev," Ms Gannushkina is sure.

*The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of non-commercial organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 28, 2022 at 09:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Roman Kuzhev

Source: CK correspondent