Boris Nemtsov killing: Suspect claims was tortured, forced to confess murdering Putin's rival

A man charged with the killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov has reportedly told the court that he was tortured and forced to confess the crime.

Zaur Dadaev claimed that he had been abducted on March 5 by unknown men and did not know where he was being kept. He said that before he was arrested on March 7, he was beaten and told what to say and how to say it, reported CBS News.

The accused had refused to plead guilty in the courtroom during a hearing in March and later backtracked from his confession given to investigators. A human rights activist who visited him in jail said that Dadaev's body had signs of torture.

His lawyer, Ivan Gerasimov, said after the hearing that his client didn't know who Nemtsov was before he was arrested.

Five people were detained in relation to Nemtsov's murder on February 27. However, Dadaev was the only one who, according to a judge and investigators, confessed to the killing.

All five suspects belong to Chechnya in the North Caucasus. Their origin raises a potentially sensitive issue as ethnic Russians are known to be hostile towards Caucasus groups.

Nemtsov's killing outside the Kremlin's walls shocked the opposition supporters in Russia. Many of Nemtsov's allies and colleagues expressed skepticism over the Chechen theory, arguing that his death in a tightly secured area near the Kremlin wouldn't have been possible without official involvement.

Meanwhile, the Moscow City Court prolonged the arrest for Dadaev for another month on Wednesday.