The man accused of murdering Boris Nemtsov says he was kidnapped and held for two days without charge

One of the men accused of gunning down Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov in Moscow is alleging that he was kidnapped and held for two days without charge.

Speaking in court, Zaur Dadaev said that on March 5, he was picked up by unidentified individuals and held at unknown location for two days without being told what he had been detained for.

According to Russian news service Interfax he said:

"On the fifth of March I was kidnapped by unknown persons. I do not know where I was, in what place I was being held. Only on the seventh [of March] did I learn that about the Investigation Committee ruling and that I had been detained," Dadaev said. "Up to that time, I was told what to say and how to say it."

He denies any involvement in the killing of Nemtsov and claims to have an alibi to prove he was not at the scene of crime.

The allegations are yet another twist in the saga that began with the shocking murder of well-known opposition politician and activist Nemtsov as he walked with his girlfriend across a bridge just a few hundred metres away from the walls of the Kremlin. Dadaev and Anzor Gubashev, who both come from the Chechen Republic, have been charged with the murder with the former reported to have initially confessed to the crime.

However, he subsequently retracted the confession saying that he had only gone along with it in order to secure the release of a friend who was picked up with him. Wounds were later discovered on Dadaev that Andrei Babushkin, a member of the Kremlin human rights council, said were consistent with torture.

He previously alleged that he was beaten while in detention and had a bag placed over his head.