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Marcus Kolga: Boris Nemtsov was my friend. Boris Nemtsov was my hero.

He was kind, funny, intelligent and knew how to love every aspect of life. His principles were unwavering. His vision for a strong and prosperous Russia was to be built on democratic values, transparency, rule-of-law, free speech and most importantly, common decency towards all, both in Russia and abroad.

Laas Leivat, Boriss Nemtsov, Reet Marten Sehr, Markus Hess ja Marcus Kolga

He was a great friend of Canada, Europe and and the formerly occupied states of the Soviet Union: Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuiania, Georgia and others. A Russia guided by Boris Nemtsov would have been a Russia that her friends could trust and help build into a strong and democratic nation.

In the late 1990s Boris Yeltsin and his gang of oligarchs had a decision to make: would Russia be ruled by Nemtsov or Putin. History has unanimously decided that Yletsin's decision and outcome were catastrophic for both Russian and neighbouring states. And no more so, than for Boris.

Boris' was a Russian hero. He fearlessly fought abusers and corrupt officials wherever he found them – the crooks and thieves as he called them – in the Kremlin, Sochi, Nizhni Novgorod, and beyond. We was every Russians' best ally. He was everyone's best ally. And now he, along with the faint rays of hope for Russia, are gone – silenced by the regime he tried to expose and a regime that has robbed and suffocated all Russia and now Ukraine.

Boris' murder in Moscow on Friday was no random occurrence. There were no islamists. There were no chechnyans. There were no CIA men operating in Moscow. We know who's behind this. And we can't allow the other brave Russian activists continue to live in fear.

Two years ago when we last gathered here to protest Putin's sham elections, Boris asked me if I would deliver a message to you from him.

Your support, he said, was well known. There weren't many of us, but Boris and his fellow activists knew that we supported them. And by coming out and supporting a much greater, friendlier and decent democratic vision of Russia, we were showing Boris and the others that they were not alone and to keep going.

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Boris pleaded for our government to adopt Magnitsky legislation to help protect the activists from abroad. We can still honour Boris' memory by updating existing legislation to create a Magnitksy-Nemtsov amendment that will help other activists who will now take up the duty of being the beating heart of the Russian opposition.

Boris. When you left his country a few years ago, you told me that we were your Canadian insurance policy. We often talked about possible and real arrests, but only once about the unthinkable. I'm sorry that we failed you.

Marcus Kolga

 

 

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