Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Russian citizen for preparing a murder on behalf of the Chechen leadership around ruler Ramzan Kadyrov.
In the first half of 2020, Walid D. is said to have been commissioned by a member of the Chechen security apparatus "with the logistical organization of the killing of an exiled opposition figure living in Germany", as the authority announced on Thursday in Karlsruhe.
Among other things, he is said to have obtained a weapon including ammunition and a silencer and spied on the announced victim.
According to the Federal Prosecutor General, the target and his brother are critics of Kadyrov's leadership and advocate an independent Chechnya on social media.
"The state-commissioned killing was intended to silence the brother of the announced victim in particular," it said from Karlsruhe.
Another man selected by the Chechen security apparatus was supposed to carry out the murder, but he "only accepted the job for fear of reprisals".
D. is said to have met this man in Chechnya in September 2020 and smuggled him from there to Germany.
Both are said to have carried out a shooting exercise with the murder weapon in the Federal Republic and to have further spied out the place of residence of the target person.
D. was then arrested on January 1, 2021 and has been in custody since then.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the charges were filed on February 4th before the State Protection Senate of the Higher Regional Court in Munich.
D. is formally accused of having agreed to commit murder.
In addition, he is accused of preparing a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state and of violating the Weapons Act.