Russia was behind murder of Chechen in Berlin, German court rules

BERLIN (AA) - A German court on Wednesday sentenced a Russian citizen to life in prison over a “state-contracted killing” of a Chechen asylum seeker in 2019.

The Berlin Higher Court ruled that 56-year-old Vadim Nikolaevich Krasikov carried out the murder in Berlin upon the orders he received from the “state bodies of the Russian central government.”

The victim, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity who fought against Russian troops in Chechnya in the early 2000s.

Sergej Netschajew, Russia’s ambassador to Germany, denied the allegations and said the court’s ruling was “politically motivated.”

The suspected hitman was arrested near Berlin's Tiergarten park, after witnesses saw him and alerted the police.