Nishka Srinivas Veluvali –
Published On: December 15, 2021 at 21:00 IST
The German Court Ordered life Imprisonment to a Russian man for Murdering a Georgian of Chechen ethnicity in a park in Berlin 2 years ago.
Vadim Krasikov was found guilty by the Court for gunning down Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in 2019, on the commands of Russia, which it still denies.
The Verdict of Wednesday would increase the tensions pertaining in the German-Russia relations.
Sergei Nechayev, Russia’s ambassador to Germany said that the judgement is politically driven decision.
Khangoshvili, who lived under a name of Tornike Kavtarashvili for a certain period of time was shot dead in Berlin on 23 August, 2019.
Sergei, aged 40 years was a Chechen Rebel commander in the independence was Chechen was fighting with Russia between 2000-2004.
Since 2016, he was asylum seeker in Germany.
Krasikov was taken into Custody within a short period of the killing, that took place a short walk away from Germany’s Parliament.
Prosecutors claim that the Accused had gunned Khangoshvili in his torso using silenced Glock 26 pistol. He even shot 2 more bullets into victim’s head after he laid on the ground.
The Prosecutors, during trial even claimed that the Accused acted as per the Orders given by the Russian state and he is a part of the Special unit of its Secret service, FSB.
They even informed the Court that the Accused flew from all the way from Moscow to Paris and then to Warsaw, before landing to Berlin, with the name of Vadim Krasikov on his passport.
The Defendant Lawyers argued that the defendant is a construction worker and also his name is Vadim Sokolov and denied being called Krasikov.
However, the presiding Judge Olaf Arnoldi stated, “We are convinced that the Russian authorities has ordered the accused to liquidate the victim”, while sentencing him.
Even though, Russia has denied the allegations but the media there is comparing Khangoshvili’s murder to the murder attempt of the former intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in 2018 in the UK.
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