File Photo: Boris Nemtsov during a rally in central Moscow on April 6, 2013. (Reuters photo)
The European Parliament today called for an independent international investigation into the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
Lawmakers voted in favour of a motion saying that Russia under President Vladimir Putin had created an atmosphere which was "fertile ground" for such crimes.
Nemtsov, 55, a former Deputy Prime Minister who became an outspoken Putin critic, was shot four times in the back as he walked along a bridge near the Kremlin on February 27.
The motion "requests an independent international investigation into the murder" and suggested that the OSCE, Council of Europe and UN could play a role.
The MEPs called it the "most significant political murder in recent Russian history" and said Kremlin propaganda is turning Russia into a "state of repression, hate speech and fear".
The EU parliament further criticised Russia for refusing to allow European figures, including a senior MEP, into the country to attend Nemtsov's funeral.
Russian authorities have rounded up five suspects for the murder but a Kremlin rights advisor said on Wednesday that a key suspect likely confessed under torture.
The killing was the highest-profile murder of an opposition leader during Putin's 15 years in charge.
Friends of Nemtsov said he had been working on a report containing what he described as proof of secret Russian military involvement in the bloody uprising by pro-Moscow militias in eastern Ukraine.