Magomed Yevloyev - Death

Death

On 31 August 2008, Magomed Yevloyev was shot in the temple and killed while in police custody. Weeks before his killing, it was rumoured that Magomed knew his life was in danger and had planned on seeking political asylum in a European Union country. Local police claimed that Yevloyev was shot after he had attempted to grab an assault rifle from one of the police officers in the car. Human rights groups have rejected this account of Yevloyev's death, and the United States State Department has called for an investigation of the killing and for those responsible to be "held to account for what happened". A spokesman for Vladimir Putin has said that an investigation will take place, but that Yevloyev had resisted arrest.

In July 2008, Human Rights Watch documented dozens of arbitrary detentions, disappearances, acts of torture, and extrajudicial executions in Ingushetia.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe denounced Yevloyev's killing as an "assassination" aimed at cracking down on dissent in Ingushetia. The killing also triggered calls for Ingushetia's independence from Russia. The organizer of the protest rally, Magomed Khazibiyev, declared that the Ingush opposition would demand independence, appealing to Russia's recognition of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as precedent.

The funeral of Yevloyev developed into an anti-government protest, in which, according to organizers, several thousands participated. Early on September 2, police dispersed a sleeping crowd of around 50 men who remained in the main square in Nazran, Ingushetia's capital city.

His death investigation case is classified as "Murder by negligence" according to the Criminal Code of Russia. Another criminal case for his illegal detention (according to the investigators, police did not have the right to arrest him when they did) was opened in February 2009, but withdrawn in March 2009.