Public Prosecutor of Ingushetia: Magomed Evloev was killed by a random shot

Yuri Turygin, Public Prosecutor of Ingushetia, has stated today that Magomed Evloev, owner of the website "Ingushetia.Ru", got his fatal wound as a result of a random shot. Ingushetian human rights activists and oppositionists do not trust him.

Mr Turygin reported that on August 31, according to inspector's statement, Magomed Evloev, should have been brought, after his arrival to Ingushetia, for interrogation as a witness in one of the criminal cases related to planting an explosive near the house of an employee of the President's administration, the "Interfax" reports.

"He was put into an UAZ car surrounded by several militiamen, and the car started in direction of Nazran. According to eyewitnesses, during the travel Evloev started a squabble with militiamen and tried to snatch a sub-machine gun out of one of them. During the struggle a pistol shot was made, by which Evloev was occasionally wounded in his head," Yuri Turygin said in his telephone interview.

Meanwhile, Magomed Khazbiev, chairman of the organizing committee of the nationwide rally, does not believe in Magomed Evloev's death by accident.

"The random shot - it's just a tale. They wanted to kill Magomed. Just think, what was the need to send special fighters armed to the hilt for detaining an armless person? They could easily handcuff Magomed without any use of firearms," Mr Khazbiev has noted in his interview to the "Kommersant" newspaper.

"Why the pistol, from which allegedly Magomed was wounded by accident, was not on a safety lock and with a cartridge in the cartridge chamber? I washed Magomed's body and saw the wound: the bullet entered one temple and went out from the other one. In a fight, this sort of wound is impossible," said Evloev's friend.

Oleg Panfilov, Director of Extreme Journalism Centre, also disagrees with assertions about occasional death of the oppositionist: "Magomed Evloev's murder is a case of execution; but not of a politician. Magomed wasn't a politician, he was a public figure."

"To my mind, this murder is absolutely linked with the fact that Magomed was actively disseminating information. The court ruling on the website 'Ingushetia.Ru' is one of numerous examples, when employees of the website were prosecuted, threatened and stopped. Multiple trials were held aiming to close this website. At last, they forced one of the journalists of the website to leave Russia and seek political asylum in the West," said Mr Panfilov.