Moscow rejects memorial to slain politician Nemtsov

Moscow officials on Tuesday rejected a proposal to put up a memorial for opposition politician Boris Nemtsov on the bridge where he was shot dead.

Such a monument would be "commemorating not the memory of a man, but the murder itself. And do we need this?" said the head of the city government's memorial commission, Lev Lavrenov, cited by Interfax news agency.

Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister who had become a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down late February on a bridge leading across Moscow River from the Kremlin and Red Square.

Supporters have constantly refreshed flowers, candles and photographs on the spot where he was killed and put forward the proposal to build a memorial there.

The suspected killers have been detained in custody but investigators have failed to identify the mastermind.

Opposition supporters have pointed the finger of blame at the Kremlin over the killing but Russian authorities have denied any involvement.

Nemtsov's daughter Zhanna has blamed official propaganda demonising anyone that criticises Putin for contributing to the killing and said in a newspaper op-ed that "Russia's state TV channels, among others, bear responsibility".

The decision to reject a memorial was condemned by Nemstov's former allies.

"This decision insults not just Boris's memory but the many Muscovites who respected and sympathised with Boris," opposition activist Ilya Yashin told Interfax.