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Germany expels Russian embassy workers after Berlin murder: report

04.12.2019 14:40
Germany has expelled two Russian embassy workers as prosecutors said there was evidence to suggest that Russia or Chechnya ordered the murder of a Georgian man in Berlin earlier this year, according to reports.
Investigators taking photographs in tent at crime scene in Berlin on August 23
Investigators taking photographs in tent at crime scene in Berlin on August 23 Photo: EPA/CLEMENS BILAN

Prosecutors said there was "sufficient evidence" to indicate that the murder in August was carried out on behalf of Russia or by Chechnya, Germany’s dw.com news website reported on Wednesday.

Russian media reported that their country’s foreign ministry has vowed to respond to the expulsion of the two diplomats from Germany in kind.

Polish media reported earlier this year that 40-year-old Georgian Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot in Berlin in broad daylight on August 23.

The killing sparked suspicion that Russia was behind it, but Moscow denied any involvement, according to dw.com.

Poland’s onet.pl news website in August cited Georgia’s Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre as saying that the slain man fought in the Second Chechen War against Russian forces as a commander from 2001 to 2005.

The Second Chechen War was fought from 1999 to 2009.

Khangoshvili applied for asylum in Germany in 2016 following multiple attempts on his life in Georgia, dw.com reported.

(pk/gs)

Source: dw.com/Reuters/onet.pl