|
Nemtsov, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and former deputy
prime minister under president Boris Yeltsin, was shot dead in
2015 as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin in the heart
of the Russian capital.
In 2017, a Russian court sentenced five men to prison terms
ranging from 11 and 20 years for his murder. Among them was
Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, who was convicted as an accomplice and
jailed for 14 years.
"Eskerkhanov signed a contract with the defense ministry in
March 2024, was pardoned, and then released from his penal
colony," TASS cited a source in law enforcement agencies as
saying.
"He went to one of the assault units and is now carrying out
combat missions in the special military operation zone."
He added that the other convicts jailed over Nemtsov's killing
were still in jail because they had refused to sign contracts
with the military.
Ilya Yashin, Nemtsov's one-time spokesman who was freed last
week in a high-profile prisoner exchange between Russia,
Belarus, the United States and several European countries,
called Eskerkhanov's release "scorn for memory of my dead
friend."
Tens of thousands of Russian prisoners have volunteered to join
the Russian army fighting in Ukraine, taking advantage of an
offer of clemency for those who survive their stints at the
front.
The recruitment of prisoners was initially pioneered by the
Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was
killed in an August 2023 plane crash after a failed mutiny
against Russia's military leadership.
Russia's defense ministry has since adopted the tactic, forming
its Storm-Z units partly out of convict volunteers recruited
directly from prisons.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Clelia Oziel)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
