Makhackala – Dagestan was shocked by the killing of two journalists by unidentified murderers in one single day.
The killing of one Dagestani journalist came just hours after Ilyas Shurpayev, the Russian state television Channel 1 reporter, was found dead in his home.
Gaji Abashilov, 58, editor of a subsidiary Dagestani channel to the Russian State Radio Television Corporation, VGTRK, was killed on Thursday night in Makhackala, capital of Dagestan, after he came under gunfire from a car. In 1999, Abashilov was elected member of the Dagestani parliament. He also worked as Deputy Minister of Information of Dagestan. Abashilov was appointed as the editor of the Dagestani channel in January 2007.
It is noteworthy that the two killings came just days after a local Dagestani newspaper published a list of the names of journalists disliked by the Dagestani administration. It was claimed that the Dagestani administration set out a while ago to prevent news that had negative information about Dagestan from being broadcasted on national television channels. However, Abashilov was in charge of a state-run television channel that tightly went by the policies of President Mukhu Aliyev. Andrei Malemedov, chief editor of the newspaper Nastoyashcheye Vremia, hinted at the possibility that Abashilov might be killed by some ‘resisters,’ because Malemedov said that Abashilov’s support of the Dagestani administration earned him a lot of hostility.
Chief Public Prosecutor of Russia Yuri Chaika stated his personal undertaking of the inquiry into the killings of journalists.
Shurpayev was known for his coverage of news about Chechnya, Dagestan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Shurpayev, 32, last conducted on March 12 an interview with Abkhazian officials to be broadcasted on Channel 1 about works to put the Novoafonskiy Monastery back into operation.
The number of journalists killed in Russia over the last two years has risen to six. Journalism associations in Moscow, capital of Russia, called on the Russian administration to illuminate the killings of journalists.
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) puts the number of journalists killed in Russia in a period of seven years between 2000 and 20007 at 21. (Agency Caucasus)
