Russian opposition news website owner killed

The owner of an opposition internet news site in Russia's troubled Ingushetia region was shot dead yesterday after being detained by police, prompting his colleagues to call for a protest rally.

Magomed Yevloyev is one of the most high-profile journalists killed in Russia since investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment in 2006, provoking condemnation of Russia's record on media freedom.

Mr Yevloyev, owner of the www.Ingushetiya.ru website, was a vocal critic of the region's Kremlin-backed administration, which critics accuse of crushing dissent and free speech.

A lawyer for the site - which survived repeated official attempts to close it down - said police met Mr Yevloyev at the steps of the aircraft after he flew in to Ingushetia's airport, put him in a Volga saloon car and drove him away.

"As they drove he was shot in the temple... They threw him out of the car near the hospital," lawyer Kaloi Akhilgov said.

"He was discovered there and they quickly put him on the operating table, which is where he died."

Dr Akhilgov said Mr Yevloyev, who was in his 30s, was detained after flying from Moscow on the same flight as the Kremlin-backed local leader Murat Zyazikov. A spokesman for Mr Zyazikov could not be reached for comment.

A posting on Mr Yevloyev's site called on "all those who are not indifferent" to his killing to gather for a demonstration in Ingushetia's biggest town, Nazran, where Mr Zyazikov's opponents have clashed with riot police in recent years.

"A preliminary investigation is being carried out into the incident as a result of which M.Yevloyev was killed," said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the investigations unit of the Prosecutor General's Office in Moscow.

Mr Markin said police had tried to bring Mr Yevloyev in for questioning but that an incident occurred in which he received a gunshot wound that led to his death.

Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying Mr Yevloyev was shot by accident.

Media freedom groups say Russia is one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.

Ingushetia is a poor, mainly Muslim, region in Russia's North Caucasus region and borders Chechnya, scene of a separatist rebellion that has now been largely quelled.

Ingushetia's leader, Mr Zyazikov, has been struggling to contain a low-level insurgency by Islamist militants. Opponents accuse Mr Zyazikov of persecuting opposition activists.

Mr Zyazikov, a former security service officer in the local KGB, has criticised the reporting by Ingushetiya.ru and brought a court case earlier this year trying to close down the site.

Dr Akhilgov, the lawyer for Mr Yevloyev's internet site, said he doubted the shooting was an accident.

"It was in no way a mistake," he said. "It will be very interesting to see what the consequences of this are for Ingushetia: There will be demonstrations in Nazran and in Moscow over this tragedy."