Saturday, November 15, 2008
Ingush news website owner’s arrest declared “illegal”, by Francis Chartrand
A court in the Ingush city of Nazran has ruled that the detention of Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of the Ingushetiya.ru news website, by interior ministry agents on 31 August - during which he was shot dead - was “illegal,” Yevloyev family lawyer Mussa Pliyev reported on 12 November.
“This is a first step towards recognising the political nature of the behaviour of the Ingush security forces in this case,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We hope that a thorough and impartial investigation will soon be carried out into the exact circumstances of Yevloyev’s death.”
An opponent of then Ingush President Murat Zyazikov, Yevloyev was arrested by interior ministry personnel in Magas, Ingushetia’s new capital, as he disembarked from the plane that had brought him from Moscow. During the flight, he had a violent argument with President Zyazikov, who happened to be aboard the same plane.
Yevloyev was fatally shot in the head after being forcibly driven away in a police car. The local authorities have blamed his death on “negligence.” This is rejected by the Ingush opposition and the Yevloyev family.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev issued a decree on 30 October replacing Zyazikov as Ingush president by Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. A career military officer who was awarded the “Hero of Russia” title for his role in the fighting in neighbouring Chechnya, Zyazikov had been president of Ingushetia since 2002. His previous posts included that of deputy chief of military intelligence for the Ural-Volga region.
Link
Labels: Francis Chartrand, Reporters without borders, Russia
# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:03 AM 
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