VP/HR — Murder of Boris Nemtsov

12.3.2015

Question for written answer E-004077-15
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Barbara Matera (PPE)

Boris Nemtsov was killed in Moscow on the evening of 27 February 2015. Nemtsov was one of Russia’s most prominent political activists who had spoken out against Vladimir Putin. His killing has occurred during a time when freedom of expression in Russia is under threat. While no one has made any outright accusations that the Russian Government ordered the killing, the circumstances are too coincidental to not investigate.

A long list of unsolved political murders already exists in Russia and it appears that Nemtsov’s murder will simply be added to the list of unsolved crimes that are ‘under the personal control of senior Russian politicians’.

1. How can the EU put pressure on the Russian Government to fully investigate this murder and this attack on freedom of speech and to achieve justice for this crime?

2. Further to this one incident, what can the EU do to protect the freedoms and rights of all Russian people and to stop the government from perpetrating gross breaches of justice?