Anti-Government Webmaster Shot Dead By Russian Police

J.Tatar and a number of other readers alert us to the shooting death of an anti-government webmaster while in police custody in Ingushetiya, a volatile province in southern Russia. Police took Ingushetiya.ru owner Magomed Yevloyev off a plane that had just landed in Ingushetiya. "Yevloyev ... was a prominent opponent of the pro-Kremlin president of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov [a close ally of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin]. Prosecutors have opened a preliminary manslaughter investigation after Yevloyev was shot in a police car in Narzan, the capital of volatile Ingushetia, a mostly Muslim region that borders Chechnya, Russian media reported. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office, Vladimir Markin, said 'an incident' took place after Yevloyev was taken into a police car 'resulting in a shooting injury to the head and he later died in hospital,' Interfax reported."

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[n dot l]

[for an unspecified reason]

A BBC article [bbc.co.uk] on this says:

Reports quoting local police said Yevloyev had tried to seize a policeman's gun when he was being led to a vehicle. A shot was fired and Yevloyev was injured in the head.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[meist3r]

Ingushetia website owner killed by police: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/01/russia1 [guardian.co.uk]

"As they drove he was shot in the temple ... They threw him out of the car near the hospital," Kaloi Akhilgov told Reuters by telephone. "He was discovered there and they quickly put him on the operating table, which is where he died."

Sounds pretty conclusive to me. The last time I shot someone in the head "accidentally" with my gun, I also threw him out of the car because I was "careless". Wake up.

More Information about This Brutal Murder

[reporter]

According to a report [washingtonpost.com] just issued by "The Washington Post" (TWP), the Russian police under direct orders from the Kremlin arrested Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of an anti-Kremlin Web site (Ingushetiya.ru), and then shot him in the head during his ride in the police car. The police then dumped his corpse onto the road near a hospital. According to the TWP, "Ingushetiya.ru has been one of the few sources of independent information about [a low-grade Islamist insurgency in the province of Ingushetia]".

For additional information about this heinous crime, read the report [telegraph.co.uk] just issued by the "Daily Telegraph" (DT). According to the DT, "Mr Yevloyev is the most prominent anti-Kremlin journalist to be killed since Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in the lift of her apartment block in October 2006. ... Russia is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists."

The "Wall Street Journal" provides more information [wsj.com] about this and other suspicious deaths of well-known journalists. According to the WSJ, "Mr. Yevloyev was the latest in a series of Russian journalists to have died in suspicious circumstances. The death of Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot in October 2006 at her Moscow apartment, highlighted the dangers faced by Russia's independent press. Ms. Politkovskaya was a lead reporter at Novaya Gazeta, a Moscow-based newspaper that specializes in muckraking and probes of government corruption. She was the third journalist at the paper to die under mysterious circumstances. Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was shot on a Moscow street in July 2004."

After I read these news articles, I could think of only 4 words: God damn the Kremlin!

Citation needed

[tetromino]

Where in the article does it say that the murderers were "under direct orders from the Kremlin"? As far as I can make out, these were local cops who acted under the orders of the provincial governor Zyazikov - the main target of Yevloyev's criticisms.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[Anonymous Coward]

From the WSJ article about this incident [wsj.com]:

Mr. Yevloyev had been in Moscow on business during the weekend and was arrested Sunday morning as he stepped off a plane that landed in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia. He was whisked away in an armored jeep of Russia's Interior Ministry and dumped a short time later near a local hospital with a single bullet wound through the head, said a friend, Mogamed Khazbiyev, who had gone to the airport to meet him.

"We saw him get in the jeep quietly, with his suitcase and his computer," said Mr. Khazbiyev, who was awaiting Mr. Yevloyev in the arrivals hall of the airport.

Mr. Khazbiyev said he ran to his car and tried to follow the jeep but was blocked by other Interior Ministry cars. While driving through Nazran in search of Mr. Yevloyev, he got a call from the local hospital saying Mr. Yevloyev was there. Mr. Khazbiyev said Mr. Yevloyev was in police custody for 20 minutes at most.

"I think they shot him in the head as soon as they left the airport," Mr. Khazbiyev said.

Googling Mogamed Khazbiyev doesn't turn up a lot but it would seem that he is also a part of the anti-government (for lack of a better term) opposition that the deceased web site owner was part of.

Re:where are the apologists?

[Scudsucker]

Except Gore would NOT have invaded Iraq over false evidence. So the only tool in your scenario is...you.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[andot]

Webster definition describes exactly what is happening in Russia. Definition 1:"often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government" - It has been the case in russia all the times during at least past 150 year. "headed by a dictatorial leader" - Do you think Putin is honest good democratically elected leader? NO. There can't be free elections when there is no free mass media or journalism. Putin is former KGB officer. KGB officers were not misleaded average guys. They knew perfectly where they were working and what they were doing. I have lived in the country ruled by KGB, I know. "severe economic" - russian government is taking over major russian companies. For example Yukos. Ff the business owners doesn't agree the they are thrown to prison (Mihail Hodorkovski case) "and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition" - for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia [wikipedia.org]

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[Anonymous Coward]

Russia is not the same nation as it was in the '70s and '80s. It is nearly broke, and has a disorganised and ill-equipped military.

What??? I don't know about the military part, but the 'nearly broke' part is a joke. Russia has HUGE commercial EXCEDENT these days, mainly from gas and oil exports. In fact, it's probably one of the richest countries right now. They have natural resources and they're playing them really well.

But you're right in some respect - Russia is not the same country as it was in the past - say, the 90's. Unfortunately - for some of us who live rather close to its borders.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[digitig]

Attacking his neighbours, killing nonrussians in their major citys and so on. Russian politics and rethorics is identical to nazi germany in 1930. Georgia and South Ossetia conflict is exactly like German occupation of Czechoslovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia [wikipedia.org]. Remember what happend last time!

Except that South Ossetia was disputed territory, and it was the Georgians who went in with guns blazing, killing Russians. How do you think the USA would respond if the Mexican government started killing all US citizens in Tijuana? And that's not even disputed territory (except perhaps for one or two bars on a Saturday night).

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[andot]

Yes. I'm estonian. Let me to tell you a story. When i was a kid, I asked from my granny - where is my grandpa. My granny told me, that my grandpa died in a prison in Siberia. He was simple fisherman, who gave food to his relative who was seeked by russian police. Then I asked my father, where is my other grandpa. My other grandpa was forced to Red Army and was killed there. My mother in law was sent to Siberia by russians, when she was about 6, with her old grandma, because her mother wasn't cooperative enough. And this is the story of average estonian family. Of course i'm brainwashed by media!

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[mrvan]

Some facts to make you feel less comfortable spouting patriottic nonsense:

1) You're wrong [cia.gov]. The US is #26 in debt with 60% GDP. Some european countries are worse (eg belgium at 85%, france at 64), some are much better (eg holland at 46%, UK at 43%, spain at 35%).

2) US citizens don't save money, but are in debt themselves (eg creditcards). This means that most of the US debt is in the hands of foreign countries or nationals, while a large part of the european public debts is in European hands since europeans save a lot more.

3) The US imports way more than it exports [imf.org] (currently, the trade deficit is 600 billion (!), down from 800 due to the extremely weak dollar). Since these goods have to be bought capital flows out (eg to gulf states for buying oil). This capital flows back in the form of investments in US companies. This sounds good, but what it means is that you are selling Americal companies to foreigners to pay for your consumption. The EU countries generally have trade balance or surplus

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[hattig]

According to accounts by people who haven't been told the events

* South Ossetia is a firecracker, but 50/50 South Ossetian/Georgian.
* The South Ossetian militias attacked first.
* Georgia's military is helping the US in Iraq - but their depleted military and reserves attacked back.
* The South Ossetian's women and children had been moved to North Ossetia in Russia prior to the attack.
* Oddly enough vast numbers of Russian troops just happened to be nearby to help out the South Ossetians.
* Clearly the Georgians aren't angels either.

This is clearly a planned attack by Russia and the people that it has been giving free passports to (but who are not Russians otherwise). Right now it is looking like the West has swallowed the Russian view of events hook, line and sinker, when it appears that Russia has the most to gain from lying about all this.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[rugatero]

He was killed by a soldier rather than police, but the shooting of Yasser Salihee in 2005 seems relevant.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[Anonymous Coward]

Article you referenced is either propaganda or complete blah.

Basically it says that russians used heavy arms first. Do you understand that number of anti-russian OSCE peacekeepers present there just wouldn't keep silence for two days? Heavy arms were disabled in the area of conflict and any _confirmed_ (definitely not by georgians) use of them would resound in western news immediately.

Re:they are baaaaaack!

[Vadim Makarov]

If it were a simple question of power balance, they could just build their own shield.

1. Exactly where close to the U.S. border can Russia build one? On Greenland? In Canada?
2. Believe it or not, Russia does not want another arms race.

'cause we all know blogs are reliable source of in

[melted]

'cause we all know blogs are reliable source of information. US Ambassador in Moscow must have been lying when he said that they've tried to dissuade Saakashvili till the last moment on August 7th when the attack was launched. Then Russia spent a precious day trying to get help through diplomatic channels. And only THEN they kicked the Georgians out and took away their toys.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions

[Cyberax]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War [wikipedia.org] ? Or maybe Iraq war?

Re:Why do you people always leave this out?

[Skjellifetti]

Sigh. I'm not sure it is worth trying to point you toward some references where you might actually learn something since you clearly already consider yourself an expert, but I'll try. Here [dollarsandsense.org] is a reasonably well written explanation of what is being discussed. The Wiki article [wikipedia.org] is very incomplete, but you can try it too. Any standard freshman undergrad textbook (e.g. Samuelson) will cover this material as well.