Moscow denies link with murder of Chechen war veteran, Georgian citizen in Germany
Veteran of the Second Chechen War (1999-2009) Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, 40, was shot on August 23 in Berlin. Photo: Facebook.
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Moscow has denied any link to the assassination of an ethnic Chechen citizen of Georgia Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a veteran of the second Chechen War.
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, 40, was shot dead on August 23 in Germany, while he was on his way to Friday prayers.
Kremlin press-speaker Dmitry Peskov said on August 28 that Russia “categorically denies any link between Russia and the incident.”
Kremlin Press Speaker Peskov says Russia is not linked with Khangoshvili's murder. Photo: Euronews.
On August 26, German police arrested a 49-year-old Russian national as a suspect in the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a native of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge.
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was a field commander during the second Chechen War (1999-2009), which is why he was wanted and continuously persecuted by Russian police.
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was buried in the village of Pankisi today. Photo: Radio Liberty.
Khangoshvili was also involved in the notorious Lapankuri special operation in the Lopota gorge, near the Georgia-Russia border in August 2012.
He was shot in May 2018 and underwent surgery in Tbilisi, Georgia. Afterwards, he left Georgia and spent the past few years in Berlin, Germany.
Russia denies ordering assassination of Chechen exile in Berlin https://t.co/Zl68lWmlaW
— The Guardian (@guardian) August 28, 2019
German media outlet Der Spiegel reported the murder was ‘well-planned and ordered.’
The body of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was transferred from Germany to Georgia in the early morning today. He was buried today after a funeral in the village of Duisi, Pankisi Gorge, Georgia.