Suspect In Murder Case Of Georgian Man In Germany Identified As Russian National Sokolov

The lawyer of the suspect in the murder case of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national of Chechen descent, has disclosed details about him, involving his nationality, age and occupation, during a hearing on Wednesday

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2020) The lawyer of the suspect in the murder case of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national of Chechen descent, has disclosed details about him, involving his nationality, age and occupation, during a hearing on Wednesday.

Until now, the suspect was referred in the court materials to as Russian national Vadim Nikolayevich Sokolov or Vadim K.

"My name is Vadim Andreyevich Sokolov. I do not know who Vadim Nikolayevich Sokolov is. I was born on August 20, 1970 in [the Russian Siberian city of] Irkutsk. I am a citizen of Russia, single, construction engineer, residing in [the western Russian city of] Bryansk," lawyer Robert Unger quoted the suspect as saying.

The suspect has refused to attend the hearing at the court in person.

According to a press release of the Berlin high court last month, the case will be reviewed by a team of five judges through 25 hearings, with the latest one scheduled for January 27, 2021.

Khangoshvili, 40, was shot dead in one of Berlin's parks in August 2019.

He had lived in Germany under a refugee status since 2016. German prosecutors believe the suspect was instructed by Moscow to kill Khangoshvili in retaliation for his terrorist activities in Russia. Russian authorities have accused Khangoshvili of involvement in the bombings in the Moscow subway, which left dozens killed, and have repeatedly asked Berlin for his extradition.

German investigators believe the suspect crossed into the European Union with a French visa under a fake surname. He has been in pretrial custody since last August.

Last December, Berlin accused Moscow of insufficient support to the investigation into the Khangoshvili case, something which the Russian Foreign Ministry denied, insisting that the bilateral cooperation on the matter had been ongoing since the immediate aftermath of the incident. The German authorities also declared personae non gratae two diplomats of the Russian embassy in Berlin.