Ilyas Imranovich Shurpayev

Ilyas Imranowitsch Schurpajew ( Russian Илья́с Имра́нович Шурпа́ев ; born July 25, 1975 in Makhachkala , Dagestan ; † March 21, 2008 in Moscow ) was a Russian-Dagestani journalist.

Ilyas Shurpayev studied German and Romance languages at the Dagestani State University in Makhachkala . After his studies reported mainly from the Russian republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus and from Abkhazia . He became known as a reporter for the state television broadcaster Pervy kanal ( First Channel ) with reports from hot spots in the Caucasus, sometimes with critical presentations of the activities of local authorities.

On March 21, 2008, Shurpaev was stabbed in his home and strangled with a belt. Just a few hours before his death, he had commented on his blog that his column was canceled by the Dagestani daily newspaper Nastoyashchee vemja (“Today's Time”) and included in a “ black list ” in the newspaper of unwanted journalists with the sentence: “Now I'm a dissident ! ". The editor-in-chief of the newspaper denied the existence of such black lists.

On March 29, 2008, three Tajik citizens suspected of murder were arrested in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe . Two of them were found guilty by the Tajikistani Supreme Court on July 30, 2008 and sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment each. The court did not find a connection with journalistic activity; it was a robbery . The case was heard in Tajikistan because the laws there prohibit extradition of Tajik citizens.

Shurpaev was married and had a five-year-old daughter.

Web links

• "Two Caucasus journalists murdered in Russia" (tagesschau.de archive), tagesschau.de , March 21, 2008

Individual evidence

1. ^ Biographical note at RIA Novosti , March 21, 2008 (Russian)
2. ↑ Shurpayev's blog , query date: July 16, 2009 (Russian)
3. ↑ Report at RIA Novosti, July 30, 2008 (Russian)