Policeman gets two years in prison for fatal shooting of news website owner

A court in Karabulak, in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, today sentenced a police officer attached to the Ingush interior ministry to two years in prison for the death of Magomed Yevloyev, an opponent of the Ingush government and owner of the Ingushetiya.ru news website, who was shot in the head in an interior ministry vehicle shortly after being arrested on 31 August 2008. The court was following the prosecutor’s recommendations when it found the police officer, Ibragim Yevloyev (no relation), guilty of “homicide through negligence” under article 109 of the Russian criminal court and imposed the two-year sentence. The defendant did not attend the hearing. “This verdict cannot be satisfactory as it was based on a charge that exonerated the local police force and government of any blame for Yevloyev’s fatal shooting,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The circumstances of his death and the situation in Ingushetia should have resulted in the case being transferred to a court outside the region for trial.” The press freedom organisation added: “The possibility that several individuals, including former senior officials, could have had a role in Yevloyev’s death and the possibility that it was deliberate rather than accidental were excluded too quickly. This verdict flouts justice and, given the tension reigning in Ingushetia, could add fuel to the flames.” The Yevloyev family have said they will appeal against the verdict. Yevloyev’s colleagues and family had petitioned the courts for his death to be investigated as “murder with premeditation” under article 105 of the criminal code. This was rejected by the Ingush supreme court which, although it recognised the illegality of Yevloyev’s arrest, ruled that investigators should continue to treat his death as “homicide through negligence.” A leading opponent of Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov (who was replaced in November 2008 by Yunus-bek Yevkurov), Yevloyev was arrested as he disembarked from a plane at Ingushetia’s Magas airport. He was dumped, unconscious and with a bullet in his head, a few hours later at the entrance to a hospital, where he died soon afterwards The name of Yevloyev’s website, Ingushetiya.ru, was subsequently changed to . Chechnya’s neighbour in the North Caucasus, Ingushetia has been destabilised by two recent wars and continues to be prey to killings, kidnappings and other forms of violence which none of its leaders has been able to control.