Demand Impartial Investigation into Killing of Independent Russian Journalist

Alert Issued: September 4, 2008

In a severe setback for freedom of expression in Russia, police officers in the Russian republic of Ingushetia shot and killed Magomed Yevloyev, publisher of the independent web portal, Ingushetiya.ru, while he was traveling in a police car on Sunday, August 31.

Yavloyev was detained when he arrived in Nazran, the regional capital, and was taken away from the airport in a police car before receiving a single bullet wound to the head.  His body was dumped outside the hospital in Nazran. Yevloyev's colleagues have described his death as an "extra-judicial killing."  Authorities claimed a gun accidentally discharged after Yevloyev tried to grab a police weapon.

Ingushetiya.ru is one of the few remaining independent news sources covering events in Ingushetia and the surrounding region.  It reports extensively on official corruption and violations of human rights in the conflict torn republic.

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Independent journalism is under attack in Russia, especially reporting that focuses on sensitive subjects like official corruption and violations of human rights in the troubled North Caucasus region.  Publications and organizations that focus on such subjects have been closed down. Journalists have been threatened, physically assaulted and even killed.

Magomed Yevloyev and Ingushetiya.ru have long been targeted by the authorities, especially the regional government of Ingushetia, for its reporting. 

Roza Malsagova, the editor in chief of Ingushetiya.ru, recently fled to France with her children and sought political asylum on the basis of threats she had received.  In August a Moscow court upheld a lower court's verdict ordering the closure of the web portal on charges of "promoting extremism."  The Law against Extremism has been used repeatedly to prosecute non-violent government critics, including human rights defenders like Stanislav Dmitrievsky, and to close publications and web-based news outlets.

Sample Letter

President Dmitri Medvedev
c/o H.E. Ambassador Yuri V. Ushakov
Embassy of the Russian Federation to the United States
2650 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: 202-298-5735

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to express my grave concern upon learning that police officers in the Russian republic of Ingushetia shot and killed Magomed Yevloyev, publisher of the independent web portal, Ingushetiya.ru, while he was traveling in a police car on Sunday, August 31, 2008. Yevloyev was taken into police detention immediately after arriving at Nazran airport on a flight from Moscow. According to witnesses, he was not handcuffed and he was apparently told that he was required to give evidence as a witness in a criminal inquiry. Regional prosecutor Yury Turygin claimed that Yevloyev had tried to seize a weapon from a police officer and that in the ensuing struggle a gun was discharged accidentally, killing Yevloyev. The Ingushetian Minister of the Interior, Musa Medov, repeated the same version of events when asked about the killing.

Magomed Yevloyev and Ingushetiya.ru have long been targeted by the authorities, especially the regional government of Ingushetia, for its reporting.

I am alarmed that publications and organizations that focus on such sensitive subjects as official corruption and violations of human rights in the troubled North Caucasus region have been closed down. In August 2008, a Moscow court upheld a lower court's verdict ordering the closure of the web portal on charges of "promoting extremism." The Law against Extremism has been used repeatedly to prosecute non-violent government critics, including human rights defenders like Stanislav Dmitrievsky, and to close publications and web-based news outlets. Furthermore, journalists have been threatened, physically assaulted and even killed. Roza Malsagova, the editor in chief of Ingushetiya.ru, recently fled to France with her children and sought political asylum on the basis of threats she had received.

I am extremely concerned by allegations that Yevloyev's death was not accidental and that police officers killed him deliberately. The killing cannot be investigated impartially by regional Ingush officials implicated in the killing, who have already made public their own views on the subject.

I therefore call on you to ensure that the circumstances of Yevloyev's death be thoroughly and promptly investigated by credible independent law enforcement personnel and prosecutors, not by the Ingush authorities.

I will continue to closely monitor this case.