Murder of Chechen Field Commander in Berlin: Russia Condemns “Political” Verdict
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The Supreme Land Court of Berlin on Wednesday, December 15, found 56-year-old Russian citizen Vadim K. guilty of the murder of former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, committed in Berlin’s Little Tiergarten park in August 2019. The defendant is deprived of lifelong freedom. The Russian ambassador to Germany called the verdict “absurd” and “political.”
Vadim K. shot Zelimkhan Khangoshvili at the direction of the Russian authorities, the land court found. Early release of a Russian is excluded, indicates Deutche Welle. Thus, the court granted the request of the federal prosecutor’s office for a life sentence. The defense demanded that the Russian be acquitted.
The Regional Court also considered it a proven statement by the prosecution that K. had committed the murder at the behest of the Russian authorities.
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot dead on 23 August 2019 in Berlin’s Little Tiergarten park. Russia had previously put him on the wanted list on terrorism charges. Khangoshvili left for Germany after another attempt was made on his life in Georgia in 2015. The alleged killer was arrested in Berlin the next day.
The Insider, Bellingcat and Der Spiegel managed to establish that Khangoshvili’s man is Vadim Krasikov from the Vympel special unit of the FSB, who is also guilty of at least two contract killings of businessmen in Russia. Krasikov arrived in Germany with a passport in the name of Vadim Sokolov, – indicates Insider.
In December of this year, the German federal prosecutor’s office announced that it considers Krasikov’s guilt proven. At the same time, Prosecutor General Nikolaus Forschner expressed confidence that the murder was commissioned by the Russian state department and that the accused was connected with the FSB of Russia.
According to prosecutors, he arrived in Berlin via France and Poland with a fake passport, tracked down Khangoshvili and shot him dead in the Little Tiergarten park. At the same time, the killer was seen by witnesses, he was filmed by surveillance cameras, and he was found restored using a SIM card that was found in his phone.
Representative of the prosecution that Khangoshvili fought against the Russian army in the second Chechen war in 2000-2004. Therefore, he was considered by Moscow to be an enemy and the applicant was eliminated. The trial lasted about 14 months, during which time almost 50 witnesses were questioned.
Russia’s reaction
The Russian ambassador to Germany condemned the “political” decision of the court, which sentenced the Russian to life imprisonment. “We consider this verdict biased, that this is a political decision that seriously undermines Russian-German relations, which are already difficult,” says a statement by Sergei Nechaev, published on the website of the Russian Embassy in Germany. “This issue causes us deep concern. in itself is an obvious unfriendly act and will not go unanswered. “
Moscow has always denied any involvement in the murder.
“The absurd thesis about the participation of the Russian Federation in this crime was methodically imposed on the public throughout the entire trial and is part of the general context of Russophobia,” the Russian ambassador said on Wednesday, December 15. He also called the accounting, he said, of the “pseudo-investigations” carried out by Bellingat and Insider into the case “strange”.