A Moscow court has denied the Russian opposition party Parnas standing in the trial of five men accused of killing party leader Boris Nemtsov.
Parnas's lawyers had argued that Nemtsov's killing on February 27, 2015, on a bridge just meters from the Kremlin walls, had caused financial and organizational losses for the party, and therefore that party should be allowed to formally join the proceedings.
But investigators had opposed the motion, and Moscow's Basmanny court on February 19 agreed with that argument.
Five men from the North Caucasus region have been arrested and charged with Nemtsov's killing, which stunned the country's beleaguered opposition and raised questions about the complicity of Chechen politicians.
Investigators say the suspected organizer of the crime, Ruslan Mukhudinov, remains at large. He is a soldier in the security forces of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Nemtsov's relatives and lawyers have expressed doubts about the probe, insisting the killing must have been ordered by high-ranking government officials.