Thousands marched on a Moscow bridge overlooking the Kremlin to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of a Russian opposition figure.
MOSCOW – Thousands marched on a Moscow bridge overlooking the Kremlin on Saturday to lay flowers and commemorate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition figure.
Nemtsov, 55, a former deputy prime minister, was shot dead while walking across the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge late at night on February 27, 2015.
Among those attending Saturday’s commemoration was Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Navalny’s arrest in January on his return to Moscow after five months of recovery in Germany for nerve poisoning sparked a wave of protests nationwide.
Nemtsov was one of Russia’s most energetic and charismatic opposition figures, and his death was a severe blow to President Vladimir Putin’s political opponents.
A leader of the Chechen-backed Kremlin-backed security forces was sentenced to 20 years for firing shots that killed Nemtsov. Four more men were sentenced to 11 to 19 years for involvement.