Balazs Penz

Nemtsov is only the latest in a long line of dissidents who have displeased the Kremlin, writes

THE PAST century of Russian history is peppered with high-profile political murders, from Czar Nicholas II’s royal family in 1918 to Leon Trotsky in 1940, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s purges and the deaths in the Gulag labour camps.

President Vladimir Putin’s 15-year rule has also been tainted by a series of killings such as the slaying of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Friday night.

The following is a list of prominent opposition leaders, activists and journalists killed since Putin became president on New Year’s Eve in 1999.

Valentin Tsvetkov: The governor of Magadan, a region in Russia’s Far East that mines a fifth of the country’s gold, was assassinated on Novy Arbat, a popular Moscow thoroughfare, in October 2002. The street is used by Putin as he travels to and from the Kremlin.

Aftermath: A Moscow court in 2011 sentenced Martin Babakekhyan to 19 years in prison and convicted three others for the murder. Babakekhyan was found hiding in Spain in 2008.

Vladimir Golovlyov: The member of fugitive businessman Boris Berezovsky’s Liberal Russia party and the deputy head of the parliament’s budget commission was murdered while walking his dog in Moscow’s Mitino district in August 2002. At the time of his killing, Golovlyov was the subject of a corruption investigation stemming from when he oversaw state assets. Two days before Golovlyov’s murder, Moscow Railways deputy chief executive officer Sergei Paristy was shot to death near his home in the Russian capital.

Aftermath: No suspect has been identified.

Sergei Yushenkov: Shot dead as he entered his block of flats in April 2003, Yushenkov was co-chairman of Liberal Russia, which he founded with Berezovsky, who was found dead from hanging in his home in Britain in March 2013. Yushenkov’s was the 53rd assassination or attempt to kill a member of parliament, the Interior Ministry said at the time.

Aftermath: Four people were sentenced to prison terms in March 2004 for the killing, including Mikhail Kondayov, the leader of a rival faction of Liberal Russia. The party split and disappeared from Russian politics.

Yuri Shchekochikhin: A lawmaker and journalist at the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta who wrote about organised crime and corruption, Shchekochikhin died from symptoms his supporters said were consistent with thallium poisoning in July 2003.

Aftermath: Prosecutors in 2009 ended the investigation, citing a lack of evidence of a crime.

Paul Klebnikov: The editor of Forbes Inc’s Russian edition and author of Godfather of the Kremlin and Conversation with a Barbarian, which investigated organised crime in Chechnya, was shot to death outside his Moscow office in July 2004. At the time, Klebnikov, a US citizen, was the 11th journalist to be murdered in a contractstyle killing in Russia since Putin took office, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The sub- ject of Godfather was Berezovsky.

Aftermath: In July 2009, Russian prosecutors reopened an investigation into the murder. The country’s Supreme Court in 2006 overturned a decision that year to acquit three men accused in the case and ordered a retrial. The following year, the retrial was halted because one of the defendants was still at large.

Andrei Kozlov: The deputy head of Russia’s central bank was gunned down outside a sports stadium in Moscow in September 2006. He led the regulator’s fight against money-laundering, which included the supervision of the cancellation of banking licences.

Aftermath: A Moscow court in November 2008 sentenced Alexei Frenkel, a former banker, to 19 years in prison for organising the murder. The same court in March 2010 handed a nine-year sentence to Andrei Kosmynin for masterminding the killing.

Anna Politkovskaya: An award-winning journalist at Novaya Gazeta and Putin critic whose books include Putin’s Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy. Politkovskaya, who also investigated human rights abuses in Chechnya, was gunned down near her flat in Moscow in October 2006 on Putin’s birthday.

Aftermath: In June last year, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev and Rustam Kakhudov were sentenced to life in prison for the murder and three others were convicted as accomplices.

Alexander Litvinenko: The former Russian spy who turned into a Putin critic died in a London hospital in November 2006 about three weeks after being exposed to radioactive polonium hidden in a pot of tea.

Aftermath: British prosecutors said in 2007 that another former Russian intelligence officer, Andrei Lugovoi, should be charged with murder. Lugovoi has repeatedly denied being involved. Britain last July started a probe into the Russian government’s possible involvement.

Natalia Estemirova: A human rights activist who worked with Politkovskaya, she was killed in July 2009 after being kidnapped outside her home in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.

Aftermath: Investigators blamed Alkhazur Bashayev, a Chechen militant who was later that year reported to be killed in a Russian air strike.

Sergei Magnitsky: A lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management, Magnitsky died while awaiting trial in a Moscow jail in 2009, almost a year after he was detained in relation to his work for the investment fund. The human rights council of then- president Dmitry Medvedev in 2011 said Magnitsky was bludgeoned with rubber batons after being denied medical care for almost a year.

Aftermath: The US and Britain targeted 60 Russian officials with visa bans and asset freezes for their alleged involvement in Magnitsky’s death. Magnitsky, along with Hermitage founder William Browder, was found guilty of tax evasion in 2013.

Boris Nemtsov: The former deputy prime minister and one of the leaders of the anti-Putin opposition was gunned down just before the weekend. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Nemtsov had been preparing a report on Russia’s involvement in that country’s conflict.

Aftermath: Russia’s criminal investigative committee started a probe, while world leaders called on Putin to ensure a thorough investigation is carried out. An anti-government demonstration planned for Sunday turned into a vigil for Nemtsov. – Washington Post-Bloomberg