Moscow court orders arrest of Boris Nemtsov's daughter in absentia

A Moscow court ordered the arrest in absentia of Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, over her role in an “undesirable organization.” The charge of organizing the activities of such an organization carries a maximum punishment of six years in prison.

Nemtsova has lived in Europe for the past several years, making the arrest order an in-absentia case unless she returns to Russian jurisdiction or is detained elsewhere and transferred. The move adds another legal strike against a family whose name has remained tied to one of the most politically charged killings in modern Russia.

Boris Nemtsov was shot dead near the Kremlin in 2015, and the case has continued to cast a long shadow over Russian opposition politics. In August 2015, Zhanna Nemtsova filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over Russian government actions related to her father’s murder. In April 2016, she again pressed Russia’s Investigative Committee to question Ramzan Kadyrov and nine other people in connection with the killing.

The legal pressure on Nemtsova came after years in which her father’s death remained a symbol of the risks facing critics of the Kremlin. Reuters reported in 2015 that Zhanna Nemtsova accused Russian authorities of a cover-up in the investigation into the murder. In 2017, Russia handed a 20-year jail term to the man convicted of killing Boris Nemtsov.

The latest arrest order extends that history into the present, using a legal label reserved for groups the state has formally banned from public activity. It also reaches beyond Boris Nemtsov himself, signaling that the consequences of political opposition in Russia can fall on relatives, custodians of memory and other figures associated with dissent long after the original crime or confrontation.