OREANDA-NEWS. A Berlin court has sentenced a 56-year-old Russian to life imprisonment for killing Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in the German capital, the Berliner Morgenpost reported.

The court agreed with the claims of the prosecutor's office, which argued that the case was not just a murder, but the execution of a "state order to kill on German soil". The prosecution believed the murder of Khangoshvili, who was a field commander in Chechnya and had been involved in attacks on Russian soldiers, was politically motivated.

The defence, for its part, argued that the entire prosecution was based on "dubious evidence" and that the possible murderer's connection with Russian security services had not been proven.

The 2019 edition of Spiegel claimed that the detained Vadim Krasikov had entered Germany on a fake passport in the name of Vadim Sokolov, and had previously served in the FSB's Vympel special forces. At the same time, Krasikov was wanted in Russia back in 2013 because he was a suspect in a murder case. "Novaya Gazeta claimed that Krasikov's wanted list was terminated in 2015.

Hangoshvili was killed in a park in Berlin on 23 August 2019. According to the investigation, the Russian man rode up to him on a bicycle and fired three times with a Glock 26 pistol with a silencer. Hangoshvili died on the spot and the suspect was detained.