Prague, Czech Republic – Prague’s municipal authorities have decided to rename the square Pod kaštany, where the Russian embassy is located in the capital’s 6th district, after Boris Nemtsov, a prominent opposition leader murdered in 2015.
Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib, known to be an outspoken critic of Moscow, told local media Aktualne.cz that the move was supported by a majority of the parties represented in Prague’s City Hall as they “share the same values”.
A formal vote on the matter from city councilors is due to take place in the coming weeks. The official renaming ceremony is scheduled to be held on February 27 near the Russian embassy in Prague, exactly five years after Nemtsov was assassinated on a Moscow bridge close to the Kremlin and the Red Square.
A physicist by training, former deputy-Prime Minister in the late 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin, Nemtsov served several years in the Russian Parliament and became one of the most vocal critics of Vladimir Putin and main organizers of anti-governments protests.
Boris Nemtsov’s daughter might attend the ceremony, according to Hrib.
Municipal councilor and head of the Praha Sobe movement Jan Cizinsky said the renaming was a symbol to honour the memory of brave people who “did something extraordinary”.
In another apparent rebuke to Russian authorities, a municipal commission is also considering renaming a close-by promenade in Stromovka park after Anna Politkovskaya, a vocal Kremlin critic, journalist and human rights activist murdered in 2006 in Russia.
Kafkadesk 
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