Zaur Dadayev, one of two suspects charged with the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, confessed under duress, a member of Russia's Human Rights Council says, reports GHN based BBC.
Andrei Babushkin, who visited Mr Dadayev on Tuesday, says he saw "numerous wounds" on his body, suggesting he had been tortured.
The suspect said he only confessed so a friend arrested with him would be freed, Mr Babushkin said.
Mr Nemtsov was killed on 27 February.
The former deputy prime minister and veteran liberal politician was shot dead as he was walking with his girlfriend within eyesight of the Kremlin.
Last year, he contacted the Russian authorities after receiving death threats on his Facebook page.
In his official request for an investigation, a copy of which has now been published (in Russian) by the The New Times, a Russian weekly news magazine, he linked the threats to his position on the conflict in Ukraine.
He did not know the author of the threats personally, Mr Nemtsov says in the document, but "having watched his fill of [President] Putin's propaganda, Russian extremist thugs could carry out any provocation, including violence and murder".
Police in Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, where Mr Nemtsov was a member of the local parliament, turned down his request in September.