Prague, Jan 30 (CTK) – The Academic Centre of Boris Nemtsov, a think tank named after the murdered Russian opposition politician and focusing on Russian affairs, will start operating at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague on March 1, the hlidacipes.org news server wrote on Tuesday.
The agreement on the opening of the centre was signed two weeks ago by FF UK Dean Mirjam Friedova, Boris Nemtsov Foundation head Zhanna Nemtsova, who is Nemtsov’s daughter.
Nemtsov was one of the loudest critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The centre will be headed by Alexandr Morozov, a Russian political scientist living in Prague, and Marek Prihoda, former head of the Institute of East European Studies.
Prihoda told the server the centre will promote the political tradition in Russia that refers to democracy, humanism and protection of human rights. “These theses are controversial in the contemporary Russia, but it does not mean that we identify with any specific political stream,” he said.
The server writes that the Kremlin dislikes Nemtsov even after his death.
“A reaction from Russia or the Russian embassy in Prague may still come. But the academic milieu is autonomous and we want to advocate the freedom of research,” Prihoda told hlidacipes.org.
The centre will be officially presented on February 8.
Nemtsov was shot dead in February 2015 when he was crossing a bridge in Moscow. A court sentenced a Chechen man and four of his accomplices to prison for 11 to 20 years. Nemtsov’s daughter said previously the real organisers who contracted the murder were not revealed.
