"Caucasian Knot" correspondent Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev assassinated in Dagestan

Today in the morning, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", was shot dead 50 meters from his house in the village of Semender in Dagestan. This is the second "Caucasian Knot" correspondent killed in Northern Caucasus.

In May 2012, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev stated threats addressed to him, while on January 11 this year, unidentified persons fired three shots at him; fortunately, the bullet went by, and the journalist was not hurt.

The name of Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev was on the so-called "execution list" – leaflets disseminated in September 2009 inMakhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where anonymous authors promised to purposefully avenge the militiamen and civilians. This list included 16 lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, well-known in Dagestan, in particular, Gadjimurad Kamalov, the publisher of the Dagestani weekly "Chernovik", who was killed on December 15, 2011.

The attack on Akhmednabiev was discussed at a press conference on safety of journalists that took place on January 14 in Makhachkala. Then, Nariman Gadjiev, the Minister for Information Policy and Mass Communications of the Republic of Dagestan, said that as soon as he had learned about the assassination attempt, he immediately called Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev and asked whether he needed any support.

Let us remind you that on July 25, 2010, Bella Ksalova, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in Karachay-Cherkessia, got into a road accident and died from injuries at hospital. It was later revealed that the car that had knocked her down was driven by Arsen Abaikhanov, a driver of the service Volga car of the "Rosprirodnadzor" for Karachay-Cherkessia, who had been registered at the narcology dispensary since 2007.