MOSCOW, May 18 (RAPSI) – Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, refused to launch a parliamentary investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician who had been gunned down in February in central Moscow, parliamentarian Dmitry Gudkov wrote on Facebook on Monday.

The decision reads that parliamentary investigations are not held to establish the guilt of a particular individual or individuals, according to Gudkov.

He pointed out that the Duma needs at least 90 signatures from the lawmakers to submit an issue for parliamentary debate.

Nemtsov, co-chair of the Republican Party of Russia – People’s Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS) and former first deputy prime minister in the Yeltsin government, was fatally shot as he was walking home with a woman in central Moscow late on the evening of February 27. He joined the opposition in the 2000s.

Five men were arrested on suspicion of killing Nemtsov: Zaur Dadayev, Anzor Gubashev, Shadid Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhayev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov.

Investigators believe that Dadayev killed Nemtsov, that Bakhayev provided information and was to hide his accomplices after the murder, and that Eskerkhanov was tracking Nemtsov’s movements. Investigators have not reached any conclusions on the Gubashev brothers’ role in the crime.