A Russian court on Thursday sentenced Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015, in absentia to four years in a penal colony.
Zhanna Nemtsova, 42, has been sentenced in absentia to four years in prison for her involvement in the work of the Germany-based Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, Mediafax reports.
According to Russian prosecutors, the court found that the organization disseminates “negative assessments of various events in the Russian Federation.”
The ruling is not final and may be appealed.
In April 2024, Russia’s Ministry of Justice added the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom to its list of foreign and international organizations deemed “undesirable,” whose activities are banned in Russia.
The foundation was established by Zhanna Nemtsova in 2015 in the German city of Bonn, following her father’s assassination.
In August 2026, a Russian court issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Zhanna Nemtsova. She denied all charges, saying they were politically motivated.
Nemtsova accused the Russian authorities of intensifying their efforts to silence independent voices.
She explained that her foundation focuses on “supporting independent Russian media in exile, educational projects, and defending the rights of Russians who have left the country because they oppose Russia’s war against Ukraine and the Putin regime.”
Boris Nemtsov, one of the most prominent opponents of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead in February 2015 near the Kremlin in Moscow.