Journalists Killed in 2008: 34 Confirmed
Magomed Yevloyev, 37, owner of the popular news Web
site www.ingushetiya.ru (now www.ingushetia.org), was killed in
police custody in Ingushetia. Yevloyev died from a gunshot wound to the head
sustained while being transported by Ingush police following his arrest at the
airport in the regional capital, Magas. Ingush police immediately called the
shooting an accident, saying Yevloyev had tried to take a gun from one of the
arresting officers. Yevloyev's relatives, colleagues, and friends told CPJ they
believe he was murdered to silence the Web site, one of the few remaining independent
news sources in Ingushetia.
Yevloyev had just disembarked a Moscow-Ingushetia flight
when he was arrested by Ingush police about 1:30 p.m., according to a colleague
who was present at the scene but asked not to be identified for fear of
reprisal. Yevloyev, who lived in Moscow
with his family, was traveling to Ingushetia to visit with his parents and
friends. Around 20 relatives and friends had gathered at Magas airport to greet
Yevloyev.
Shortly before he got off the airplane, Yevloyev sent a text
message to Magomed Khazbiyev, a friend and local opposition activist, telling
him that he had shared the flight with Ingushetia President Murat Zyazikov, the
friend told CPJ. After the presidential cortege left the airport, six armored
vehicles approached the plane, Khazbiyev said. A group of armed police officers
approached Yevloyev and placed him in a UAZ van. "They did not handcuff him,
and he did not resist them," Khazbiyev told CPJ.
The daily Kommersant reported
that Ingush police said they had detained Yevloyev as a witness in a criminal
investigation into an August explosion at the home of a regional administration
official.
When they saw Yevloyev had been detained, Khazbiyev said,
friends followed the vehicles in their own cars. After the police vehicles left
the airport, they split into two columns and took different directions.
Khazbiyev and Yevloyev's relatives and friends followed the group heading
toward Ingushetia's main city, Nazran. "We followed them for about 20 minutes
until we almost reached Nazran's city limits," Khazbiyev told CPJ. When the
cars stopped, it became clear Yevloyev was not there. "We have no blood on our
hands," one police officer told them, Khazbiyev told CPJ.
Ingush police said that shortly after the journalist was
placed in one of their vans, Yevloyev tried to wrestle away a gun belonging to
one of the arresting officers. The gun went off, police said, striking Yevloyev
in the temple. Police brought Yevloyev to a Nazran hospital, where he was
pronounced dead.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesman with the investigative
committee of Russia's
prosecutor-general's office, told journalists on Monday that a criminal case
has been opened and the case has been categorized as "murder by negligence."
The statement left unclear whether regional or federal prosecutors would be in
charge of the probe.
Yevloyev's Web site was well known to human rights and press
freedom groups in Russia and
abroad as a reliable source for information in the tightly controlled republic of Ingushetia
in Russia's restive North Caucasus region. Ingushetiya had reported on governmental corruption, human
rights abuses, unemployment, and a string of unsolved disappearances and
killings in recent months. The site covered antigovernment protests and had
called for Zyazikov's resignation.
On June 6, a district court in Moscow ordered the closure of Ingushetiya for alleged extremism.
Yevloyev told CPJ at the time that he believed authorities wanted the site
closed because of its critical coverage. Yevloyev told CPJ that Ingushetia
authorities had launched more than a dozen lawsuits against the Web site in the
past year. Despite the court's decision, Yevloyev and his colleagues continued
to publish Ingushetiya, whose
server was based in the United
States.
In August, Ingushetiya Editor-in-Chief
Roza Malsagova fled Russia
after enduring harassment, threats, and beatings at the hands of Ingush
authorities. Faced with a politically motivated criminal case on charges of "incitement
of ethnic hatred" and "distribution of extremist materials," Malsagova sought asylum
in Western Europe.
Yevloyev was survived by a wife and three young children.
http://www.cpj.org/deadly/2008.php
site www.ingushetiya.ru (now www.ingushetia.org), was killed in
police custody in Ingushetia. Yevloyev died from a gunshot wound to the head
sustained while being transported by Ingush police following his arrest at the
airport in the regional capital, Magas. Ingush police immediately called the
shooting an accident, saying Yevloyev had tried to take a gun from one of the
arresting officers. Yevloyev's relatives, colleagues, and friends told CPJ they
believe he was murdered to silence the Web site, one of the few remaining independent
news sources in Ingushetia.
Yevloyev had just disembarked a Moscow-Ingushetia flight
when he was arrested by Ingush police about 1:30 p.m., according to a colleague
who was present at the scene but asked not to be identified for fear of
reprisal. Yevloyev, who lived in Moscow
with his family, was traveling to Ingushetia to visit with his parents and
friends. Around 20 relatives and friends had gathered at Magas airport to greet
Yevloyev.
Shortly before he got off the airplane, Yevloyev sent a text
message to Magomed Khazbiyev, a friend and local opposition activist, telling
him that he had shared the flight with Ingushetia President Murat Zyazikov, the
friend told CPJ. After the presidential cortege left the airport, six armored
vehicles approached the plane, Khazbiyev said. A group of armed police officers
approached Yevloyev and placed him in a UAZ van. "They did not handcuff him,
and he did not resist them," Khazbiyev told CPJ.
The daily Kommersant reported
that Ingush police said they had detained Yevloyev as a witness in a criminal
investigation into an August explosion at the home of a regional administration
official.
When they saw Yevloyev had been detained, Khazbiyev said,
friends followed the vehicles in their own cars. After the police vehicles left
the airport, they split into two columns and took different directions.
Khazbiyev and Yevloyev's relatives and friends followed the group heading
toward Ingushetia's main city, Nazran. "We followed them for about 20 minutes
until we almost reached Nazran's city limits," Khazbiyev told CPJ. When the
cars stopped, it became clear Yevloyev was not there. "We have no blood on our
hands," one police officer told them, Khazbiyev told CPJ.
Ingush police said that shortly after the journalist was
placed in one of their vans, Yevloyev tried to wrestle away a gun belonging to
one of the arresting officers. The gun went off, police said, striking Yevloyev
in the temple. Police brought Yevloyev to a Nazran hospital, where he was
pronounced dead.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesman with the investigative
committee of Russia's
prosecutor-general's office, told journalists on Monday that a criminal case
has been opened and the case has been categorized as "murder by negligence."
The statement left unclear whether regional or federal prosecutors would be in
charge of the probe.
Yevloyev's Web site was well known to human rights and press
freedom groups in Russia and
abroad as a reliable source for information in the tightly controlled republic of Ingushetia
in Russia's restive North Caucasus region. Ingushetiya had reported on governmental corruption, human
rights abuses, unemployment, and a string of unsolved disappearances and
killings in recent months. The site covered antigovernment protests and had
called for Zyazikov's resignation.
On June 6, a district court in Moscow ordered the closure of Ingushetiya for alleged extremism.
Yevloyev told CPJ at the time that he believed authorities wanted the site
closed because of its critical coverage. Yevloyev told CPJ that Ingushetia
authorities had launched more than a dozen lawsuits against the Web site in the
past year. Despite the court's decision, Yevloyev and his colleagues continued
to publish Ingushetiya, whose
server was based in the United
States.
In August, Ingushetiya Editor-in-Chief
Roza Malsagova fled Russia
after enduring harassment, threats, and beatings at the hands of Ingush
authorities. Faced with a politically motivated criminal case on charges of "incitement
of ethnic hatred" and "distribution of extremist materials," Malsagova sought asylum
in Western Europe.
Yevloyev was survived by a wife and three young children.
http://www.cpj.org/deadly/2008.php