Ilyas Imranovich Shurpayev (russian: Ильяс Имранович Шурпаев; 25 July 1975,

Makhachkala Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...

– 21 March 2008,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) was a Russian television

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

Channel One (Russia) Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervyy kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian state-controlled television channel. It is the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation. Its headquarters ...

correspondent.

Life and career

Shurpayev was born in

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North ...

, and graduated from a local university with a specialization in philology. He worked for Channel One and mostly served in Russia's North

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

region, including Dagestan and Chechnya.

Death

On 21 March 2008, Shurpayev was found dead in his apartment in

with stab wounds and a belt around his neck. A fire was set in the apartment after the attack, and a sum of money was stolen. Hours before his death, Shurpayev wrote a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

post, entitled "Now I am a

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

!", saying that the owners of a Dagestan newspaper had banned his column and told its staff not to mention his name in publications. The investigations committee of the Russian prosecutor's office opened a criminal case into the murder. On the night he was murdered, he asked the concierge to admit two young men to his building, saying they were his guests. A week later it was reported that Shurpayev met them in a park known as a popular place for gay liaisons. The two suspects were Tajikistani, and one of them had served a term for robbery. Both men fled to Tajikistan. On 30 July 2008, two Tajikistani citizens, 25-year-old Masrudzhon Yatimov and 21-year-old Nadzhmiddin Mukhiddinov, were found guilty of Shurpayev's murder by the Supreme Court of Tajikistan and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment each. Both admitted their guilt.No use to even appeal

Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russi ...

, 31 July 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shurpayev, Ilyas 1975 births 2008 deaths People from Makhachkala Assassinated Russian journalists Journalists killed in Russia People murdered in Russia 20th-century Russian journalists