Formal charges have already been levied on two individuals suspected of perpetrating the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a well-known critic of the Vladimir Putin's administration. One of the suspects presented was a former policeman from the republic of Chechnya.
Aside from the two, three more individuals were detained by the Russian authorities for questioning, according to Hindustan Times. All five were presented into a courtroom in Moscow on Sunday. The five men were locked inside a metal cage while different media crews from all over the globe film them and took photographs.
Officials who interrogated the five suspects said that the motive for the murder is still unclear and official reports only gave few details about the background of the suspects. However, a Russian media outlet reported that the men were natives of the mostly Muslim region of Caucasus adding that one of them even served as a police office in Chechnya, a region where Russian forces have fought the Islamist rebel group in the last two decades.
Initial investigation showed that the two men murdered Nemtsov for financial gain, a charge usually levied on contract killers. Additional reports said that the three detained suspects will be formally charged within the next few days.
Based on court documents one of the suspects, Zaur Dadayev, admitted his role in the murder of Nemtsov. The four other denied their alleged participation.
The Caucasus region where the four came from is a hotspot for violence as Islamist groups vied for the control of the area against Russian forces. One of the republics in the Caucasus region is Chechnya and was the setting of two brutal wars that spanned for 25 years. Chechnya is now under the control of a former rebel Ramzan Kadyrov, a well-known supporter of Putin, according to Wall Street Journal.