Anniversary of the Assassination of Boris Nemtsov.

Nine years ago, on February, 27 the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down in the streets of Moscow, just blocks from the Kremlin.

Since Nemtsov’s murder, Russia has become an increasingly belligerent neighbour and ever more repressive of its own citizens. Today, anyone who criticizes Putin inside Russia risks their liberty and their life. According to data of OVD-Info there are currently over 1.000 Russians incarcerated as a result of politically motivated prosecutions.

Nemtsov died just hours after appealing to his compatriots to support a march against Russia's war in Ukraine. Last year, Putin changed Russia’s criminal code, making it a criminal offence for any citizen to criticize Russia’s army or its war efforts. It has since prosecuted hundreds of ordinary citizens under this new draconian legislation.

A brave opposition figure, Nemtsov championed the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and advocated for Magnitsky legislation worldwide, including in Canada. His commitment to holding human rights violators accountable and his support of targeted sanctions reflected his steadfast belief that Russians deserve justice and democracy. It's no wonder Putin wanted him dead.

A joint investigation of Bellingcat, The Insider and the BBC in 2022 showed that Boris Nemtsov was shadowed for almost a year before he was murdered by an agent with name Valery Sukharev linked to a political assassination team, a secret FSB hit squad who also tried to poison Navalny and Kara-Murza.

Last week, Russia lost another formidable voice, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose murder in a remote artic penal colony casts a dark shadow over the struggle for a free and just Russia.

Human Right activists are more concerned than ever for the safety and well-being of Russia’s other prominent political prisoners, including Alexei Gorinov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was Boris Nemtsov’s friend and mentee. Both political prisoners have underlying health conditions, and many believe them to be in mortal danger.

Boris Nemtsov was a fierce adversary of Putin. He dreamt of a free, just and democratic Russia.

Nemtsov was awarded in 2006 the Order of Yaroslav the Wise, in Ukraine

He is the only Russian to have been awarded the highest non-military order attainable in Ukraine, the Order of Liberty (posthumously).

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