Nemtsov murder suspect says never heard politician's name before arrest

MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, a suspect in the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, pleaded not guilty on Monday saying he had never heard Nemtsov's name before his arrest.

"I have never done anything illegal," Eskerkhanov told Moscow's Basmanny Court. "I did not commit the crime I am accused of. I heard Nemtsov's name on March 8, the day when I was detained."

Eskerkhanov said that he has an alibi for the time of the murder and had never met other suspects, except Zaur Dadayev, Nemtsov's suspected killer.

Russian opposition leader Nemtsov, co-chair of RPR-Parnas party and deputy of the Yaroslavl regional duma, was killed in downtown Moscow late on February 27.