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| - A Russian national suspected of carrying out a state-sponsored contract killing in a German park will go on trial in October, a court said Wednesday amid an escalating diplomatic row. The defendant, identified by media as Vadim Krasikov, is accused of gunning down a Georgian national of Chechen origin in broad daylight in central Berlin a year ago. Prosecutors believe the murder was ordered by Moscow. The case frayed ties between Germany and Russia that have been further exacerbated by the suspected poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was flown to Germany and is in a coma in Berlin's Charite hospital. "The defendant is alleged to have acted on behalf of institutions of the central government of Russia," the court said, "either in order to be paid for it or because he shared the motives of his clients". The victim, a former Chechen commander named as Tornike K., was shot twice in the head at close range in Kleiner Tiergarten park, just minutes from the German parliament and chancellery. Riding a bicycle, a suspect approached the man from behind, firing a Glock 26 pistol equipped with a silencer at the side of the victim's torso, according to German prosecutors. After the victim fell to the ground, the accused fired another two shots at his head that killed the Georgian on the spot. Prosecutors accused Russia of ordering the murder as they charged Vadim K. in June -- an accusation swiftly dismissed as "unfounded" by the Russian ambassador in Berlin. The German government warned of sanctions against Moscow as the diplomatic row between the two countries heated up over the case. Forty-four-year-old anti-corruption campaigner Navalny was brought to the German capital after falling ill in Siberia in August with what Russian doctors blamed on a metabolic disorder. Doctors at the Charite have said tests indicate poisoning, prompting Chancellor Angela Merkel to call for the Russian authorities to ensure those responsible are held accountable. fec/hmn/bp
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