Russia: Two Dagestani Journalists Killed

Global Voices Online
Sunday, March 23, 2008

Ilyas Shurpaev, a 32-year-old TV journalist and blogger (LJ user shurpaev), was found strangled in the apartment he was renting in Moscow Friday. (More detailed English-language media accounts of the murder are here.)

A native of Dagestan, Shurpaev had been based in Makhachkala until very recently, covering the Caucasus region for the state-owned Channel One. (A Sept. 2007 Global Voices translation featuring his observations on the situation in Ingushetia is here.) He transferred to Channel One's Moscow office a month ago.

Timur Aliev - LJ user timur_aliev, a journalist and Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov's aide - wrote this (RUS) about Shurpaev:

[...] He was an excellent guy - witty, communicative. Lots of fun stuff on his blog - yesterday, by the way, he wrote a lot there. We knew each other mainly through LJ. Though we did run into each other once in real life - at a seminar in [Nalchik]. And for the New Year's, he sent us some gifts, through friends from Makhachkala. It's been hardly a month since he moved to Moscow, and we were congratulating him in LJ on the new job location. He had been covering all kinds of things in his native Dagestan (explosions, terrorist acts, warfare) and nothing had happened to him. And in Moscow, he got killed...

Oleg Panfilov - LJ user oleg_panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations - wrote this (RUS):

Ilyas had a book in him. And, perhaps, even more than one. He was very talented, his blog was, I think, one of the best ones in my [feed]. I recommended it to many people, although sometimes I had a problem with his loose style and "salty" words...

Most likely, they attempted to rob him, but they didn't take his laptop. I don't think it was a work-related murder, because Ilyas was a rare journalist who did the most serious stories solidly and neutrally. Sometimes, when we got together in Makhachkala, we talked about propaganda, and Ilyas, who understood perfectly well what kind of place he was working at [state TV], was making it clear that he was trying hard to avoid propaganda cliches. And he was successful in doing that...

The following exchange on Shurpaev's professionalism (RUS) took place in the comments section to Panfilov's post:

z_ari_n:

[...] he... was... a good journalist. [...]

dinrid

Then what was he doing at Channel One if he was a good journalist? In Russia, it is now practically impossible to be an honest journalist if you don't have your work published in the oppositional mass media.

oleg_panfilov:

This opinion, of course, is legitimate, too, but, first, the oppositional media also frequently have problems with objectivity, and second, the number of honest journalists and "honest" media is not the same.

z_ari_n:

I'm sorry, but this doesn't mean anything. To be a good journalist, it's enough not to be a frenzied journalist. Basically, a good journalist can work practically anywhere, as long as [he/she] is considerate and diligent.

Here is a comment (RUS) Shurpaev made on March 3 about his work and the Russian presidential election, which took place the previous day:

Watched our programming yesterday. I'm so happy I'm here in Abkhazia now, on a work trip, and am not taking part in this bacchanalia. Thanks for your attention.

Shurpaev's last blog entry (RUS) has received much attention both in the Russian blogosphere and in the media. In it, he wrote that he'd been "blacklisted" by a Dagestani newspaper critical of the republic's president:

Here we go! I'm a [dissident] now! Not sure if I should laugh or cry. I already wrote here that there's a battle going on at one Dagestani paper between its journalists and founders. The latter, according to the journalists, wanted to use them as informational killers. The potential killers [the journalists] rebelled. But all this business is way too serious and I don't understand it. But here's what blew me away. The founders came up with a list of people who it's forbidden to publish in this paper, mention them or [...] even interact with them in the newspaper's building. And there I am, in the front row! Heading the list! The funniest thing is that I've never written anything subversive for this paper - only notes on my travels, in which I did not touch upon the political situation in Zimbabwe, but just describe where I'd been, what I'd eaten and who I'd seen. I haven't taken part in the political life of the republic [Dagestan] or even of my region, because I'm lazy and, in general, I had to go to the gym and take my daughter to the movies and to the playground. And then boom! Such a turn of events... Perpaps the [newspaper's] founders know something about me that I do not know myself? Maybe I should do the "suitcase-train station-Israel" thing, so as not to become a second [Khodorkovsky]? Anyways. Matilda [a frequent anonymous addressee of Shurpaev's blog postings]! Knit me some woolen socks. Just in case. The size is 43 1/2. [...]

Among other individuals on the newspaper's "black list" was Gadzhi Abashilov, head of Dagestan's state TV. Around 8 PM on Friday, Abashilov was shot dead in the republic's capital, Makhachkala.

Timur Aliev posted some thoughts (RUS) on this murder as well:

The second murder of a Dagestani journalist in two days - now, following Ilyas Shurpaev (in Moscow), Gadzhi Abashilov has been killed in Makhachkala.

I don't know whether these two murders are connected. But here's one version (I do not possess any insider information whatsoever). Abashilov was a pro-government journalist, a media bureaucrat - head of the "Dagestan" [State TV and Radio Company]. Ilyas [Shurpaev] could have also been perceived to have ties with the government - because he worked for [state-owned Channel One] - the main federal channel. Both were on some list of journalists who had been banned from being published and mentioned in an independent (and, lately, more of an oppositional) Dagestani newspaper. Thus, they were both identified more like pro-government people.

This leads to two conclusions (of course, only in case these two murders originate from the same source) - either the opposition is retaliating, or someone wants to compromise the opposition - namely, [Suleiman Kerimov] (who has been mentioned as the newspaper's sponsor). [...]

According to media reports on the ongoing investigation, the killings of Shurpaev and Abashilov are not connected.

Russia: Violence in Ingushetia

Global Voices Online
Sunday, September 9, 2007

Attacks on civilians in Ingushetia have increased in the past few months. The most recent victims of violence include the family of an ethnic Russian teacher from the town of Karabulak, two ethnic Koreans in Stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya, and a 66-year-old ethnic Russian doctor at a blood transfusion center in Nazran. Attacks on law enforcement authorities are also reported to be on the rise. To help local security forces manage the situation, some 2,500 interior ministry troops were sent to Ingushetia (pop. 467,294) earlier this month.

In Karabulak, the Federal Security Service (FSB) carried out a "special operation" on Sept. 2, which resulted in the death of Apti Dolakov, a 21-year-old man allegedly involved in the murder of the teacher's family.

LJ user shurpaev - Ilyas Shurpaev, a journalist with the state-owned Channel 1 - wrote this (RUS) about the incident:

So I'm sitting in the lobby [of the Karabulak prosecutor's office] and in comes a huge guy in camouflage, and he is fuming - "How can it be! Why did they have to kill?! They could've just arrested him, if there had been something on him, they could've just arrested him and that's it, and now they'll just put all the blame on the guy!" The secretary hissed at him - "There are journalists here!!!"

According to the official story, the guy was killed as he attempted to escape and resist the police. And he had a hand grenade. So we go to the site of the incident, find the backyard where he was killed, talk to the witnesses of the special operation, and what do you think? Everyone says the same thing. And we weren't recording the crowd, we walked from one apartment to the other, so I think there is a substantial grain of truth in what they were saying. Here are [...] the facts.

- the guy had no weapons on him, there was nothing in his hands as he was running away, but he was being followed by armed men.

- the crowded neighborhood, in which the special operation was taking place, had not been cordoned off. But there was [a great deal of] shooting there.

- the guy was shot in the backyard, then it looks like they made a "control shot," then they lifted his body and placed a hand grenade underneath. [...] No one said they'd placed the hand grenade into his pocket, into his hand, etc. Everyone said they'd lifted the body, and they even thought they wanted to administer first aid to the guy. [...]

At the end of his post, Shurpaev explains why what's going on in Ingushetia now is similar to the situation in Dagestan two years ago - and why it appears to be much worse:

The situation in Ingushetia sucks and I doubt it'll improve. The terrorist act statistics is nearly the same as in Dagestan two years ago. But over there, special services where not fighting guys "with hand grenades" - but were killing weathered gang bosses. In [Dagestan] now, it's not three terrorist acts a night, but one every two weeks at the most.

Other explanations of the situation in Ingushetia feature the neighboring Chechnya - in one way or another.

According to some officials, militants from Chechnya and other North Caucasian republics are behind some of the attacks.

Ruslan Isayev, a Prague Watchdog author, whose recent text was translated from Russian by David McDuff of A Step At A Time, reports on this scenario that's now being discussed in Ingushetia:

One rumour that is spreading says that the situation in the republic is being aggravated on purpose so that the forces of the Moscow-backed Chechen President Kadyrov can be called in to restore order and to unite the two republics in future, and that [Ingushetia's extremely unpopular president] Murat Zyazikov will tender his resignation [...] this month.

Isayev also notes that the ongoing violence in Ingushetia is viewed by many as a possible beginning of yet another war in the North Caucasus:

Many people are now comparing the situation in Ingushetia with the situation in Chechnya before the second war. Some observers even draw parallels with the most active phases of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, when members of the federal forces were able with impunity to abduct any person or simply shoot a passer-by who didn’t look at them in the right way.

Marina Litvinovich - LJ user abstract2001, Garry Kasparov's aide and founder of the PravdaBeslana.ru website - is dismayed with president Vladimir Putin's lack of response to the situation in Ingushetia and links it to the upcoming presidential election, scheduled to take place on March 9, 2008. She appealed (RUS) to the president's press service on her blog:

If I still had an opportunity to advise president V. Putin to issue a statement, I would definitely insist on a statement about the events in Ingushetia.

Because Russians and not just them are being purposefully killed there, educated and respected people more often than not. Extrajudicial killings (shootings) of civilians are also taking place there (most often for their religious beliefs). All this has been going for two months already.

It's about time the president paid attention to this.

Because he regularly signs condolences when citizens of other countries die, and the same about congratulations, but there's no reaction from him whatsoever when bloody events and deaths of citizens occur in his own country.

But here's what's even worse. They are "setting up the stage" now by killing people in Ingushetia, then they'll organize some terrorist act, and when it's all over, Putin would appear "in front of the nation" and say something like this:

"We are not dealing with singular acts of intimidation or with unrelated attacks by terrorists. We are dealing with a direct intervention of international terror against Russia.

We're dealing with a total, cruel and full-scale war, which is taking lives of our compatriots again and again.

All international experience shows that such wars do not end quickly, unfortunately. In such circumstances, we cannot afford and shouldn't live as carelessly as before.

Our country has entered the election period. It is obvious that the terrorist underground is willing to make use of the time when the power in Russia is being transfered. Our enemies want instability and chaos. But we won't let them drag us into war and terror.

I'd like to say the following in this regard.

First.

A set of measures aimed at strengthening the unity of the country will be prepared in the nearest future.

Second.

To preserve stability in Russia, I have sent the chambers of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation a proposal to introduce changes into paragraph 3 of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation [which reads: "No one person shall hold the office of President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms in succession."]

I hope that the citizens of Russia will understand and support my decision.

Today, we must be together. Only this way shall we able to overcome the enemy."

Vladimir Vladimirovich, it's good in Australia, but Ingushetia is burning right next to you.

Thank you for your attention.

LJ user varfolomeev66 - Vladimir Varfolomeev, Radio Echo of Moscow host - is dismayed with public indifference towards violence in Ingushetia. On his blog, he wrote (RUS):

[...] We think that what's going on in Ingushetia - so distant from both capitals [Moscow and St. Petersburg] - will not affect us, that the bony hand of the militants and "death squads" will never reach us.

We are wrong to be so hopeful.

The war in Chechnya ended up resulting in the hijacking of planes, explosions of residential building, theater and school sieges. If the Ingush boiler explodes, you and I may end up being buried under its debris, too.

We should at least think about this - if no one, unfortunately, cares about the fate of the Ingush people.