Tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday marched through Moscow in protest of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reports.
Nemtsov, 55, was a leader in RPR-PARNAS, the Republican Party of Russia. He was killed by a gunman in a car on Friday as he was walking near Moscow’s Red Square.
Over 56,000 people, led by former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, participated in the protest, according to Russian news media. The protesters carried flags, pictures of Nemtsov with signs saying “I am not afraid” and “Boris, we will continue your work” as they marched past the Kremlin. This is the biggest protest in Russia since the winter protests of 2011-2012, Bloomberg reports.
Secretary of State John Kerry said on “This Week” Sunday that he hoped for a “transparent investigation.”
“We are enormously saddened to hear of his murder,” Kerry said. “And we hope the authorities will join the world in producing the credible, transparent investigation necessary to find out who did — who was behind this and who did it.”
Earlier this month, Nemtsov had expressed concern that Putin would have him killed. Nemtsov, the first deputy prime minister under former president Boris Yeltsin, accused Putin of starting a war against Ukraine and opposed the annexation of Crimea. (RELATED: Murdered Putin Critic Said He Was ‘A Bit’ Concerned Russian President Would Have Him Killed)