Muscovites mark year since opposition chief Nemtsov slain
MOSCOW (AP) — Chanting "Russia will be free," about 30,000 people marched across Moscow on Saturday in memory of the slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in a strong outpouring of emotion on the anniversary of his killing.
Nemtsov, who had been a deputy prime minister during Boris Yeltsin's presidency, was a charismatic figure and a vehement critic of President Vladimir Putin.
City authorities denied march organizers permission to hold a procession to the bridge where Nemtsov was killed, but approved another route in central Moscow.
In Putin's decade-and-a-half in power, Russian opposition groups have come under severe pressure, criticized by officials and state-controlled media as pawns of the West.
Nemtsov's fellow opposition leaders are now focused on the September election to Russia's parliament, which now serves largely as a rubber stamp for the Kremlin.
The suspected triggerman served as an officer in the security forces of the Moscow-backed Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The official probe has failed to identify those who ordered the killing, and Russian opposition activists have criticized the Kremlin for failing to track down the mastermind.
Kadyrov's unparalleled privileges and defiant ways have earned him numerous enemies in Russia's law enforcement agencies, whose leaders have pushed for his dismissal.