The main suspect in the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has changed his account of his actions on the day of the killing, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday.
Zaur Dadayev, who earlier confessed to involvement in the killing but later claimed he had done so under torture, told investigators under re-interrogation that he had spent the day praying at a mosque and visiting two restaurants in the city center, the report cited unidentified sources as saying.
Dadayev's defense will produce witnesses and provide records of mobile phone conversations to corroborate his new version of events, Kommersant reported.
Dadayev, a former police officer in Chechnya, added that he had received a phone call at about 11 p.m. from his friend and former colleague Ruslan Geremeyev and gone to his apartment, Kommersant reported. Geremeyev is wanted by police investigating the killing, Rosbalt reported earlier this month.
Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was shot dead just before midnight on Feb. 27 on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin.
Two men, Dadayev and Anzor Gubashev, were arrested and charged with murder in the weeks after the killing.
