WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today announced the following hearing:
BORIS NEMTSOV, 1959-2015:
SEEKING JUSTICE, SECURING HIS LEGACY
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
3:30 p.m.
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 138
Live Webcast: http://www.senate.gov/isvp/?type=live&comm=csce&filename=csce022818
Three years after Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on a bridge in front of the Kremlin, and one day after the unveiling of Boris Nemtsov Plaza in front of the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Helsinki Commission will examine the outcome of the official investigation and trial into his assassination.
An officer of the Russian Interior Ministry with links to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was convicted of pulling the trigger; four others were sentenced as perpetrators. Gen. Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee has declared the case “solved.” Yet, three years on, the organizers and masterminds of the Nemtsov assassination remain unidentified and at large. The United States has sanctioned both Kadyrov and Bastrykin for gross human rights violations under the Magnitsky Act.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has appointed a Special Rapporteur to assess the status of the case and report on its shortcomings. At this hearing, the Commission will consider whether similar oversight is needed within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This hearing will also examine the particular importance of Boris Nemtsov’s legacy of public and competitive politics as Russia looks to Vladimir Putin’s fourth official term in office.
Witnesses scheduled to testify include:
- Zhanna Nemtsova, Daughter of Boris Nemtsov
- Vadim Prokhorov, Lawyer for the Nemtsov family
- Vladimir Kara-Murza, Chairman, Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom
