An appeal court in Vienna has upheld the conviction of three Chechens for their role in the murder of an exiled critic of Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov in 2009, the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported.
A court ruling in June last year senteced Otto Kaltenbrunner, Suleiman Dadayev and Turpal-Ali Yesherkayev to life, 19 years and 16 years in jail, respectively.
The hearing at the Vienna Higher regional Court on Tuesday upheld the ruling.
Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard of Chechen leader Kadyrov, was shot dead outside a grocery store in Vienna.
The 27-year-old sought asylum in Austria after filing an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in 2006, accusing Kadyrov of widespread kidnappings and systematic torture.
Austrian investigators have said Kadyrov ordered Israilov's abduction but that he was murdered when it went awry.
Kadyrov, a former militant accused of human rights abuses, has denied any involvement in the murder.
"If I had wanted him dead, I could have killed him in Chechnya and no one would have known about it," he told a news conference in Grozny in March 2011.
The suspected gunman, Lecha Bogatyryov, remains at large.
