Russian charged with planned killing of Chechen dissident

BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors say they have charged a Russian man with planning the killing of a Chechen dissident in Germany. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the suspect is alleged in early 2000 to have accepted an order from a member of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s security apparatus to kill an opposition member living in exile. Prosecutors said the designated victim and his brother are critics of Kadyrov and vocally speak out for an independent Chechnya on social media. Prosecutors say the actual killing was to be carried out by another man who pretended to accept the hit job for fear of repression. The suspect was arrested on Jan. 1, 2021 before the killing could take place. He has been detained since.