Gone somewhere

The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the North Caucasus Federal District suspended the investigation into the murder of Ingush human rights activist Maksharip Aushev “due to the impossibility of identifying the persons to be charged as accused,” writes Kommersant.

Aushev was shot dead in Kabardino-Balkaria on October 25, 2009. Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika himself took control of the investigation. Companions of the human rights activist and oppositionist argued that security forces could be involved in the murder. The version that the murder was connected with Aushev’s opposition activities, by the way, became the main one during the investigation, and traces, according to the investigation, had to be looked for in Ingushetia.

The newspaper recalls that Maksharip Aushev gained wide popularity in September 2007, when he organized a crowded rally in Nazran in connection with the abduction of his son and nephew. They were returned the same day; the kidnappers were not found. After this, Aushev joined the opposition, which demanded the resignation of the then odious president of the republic, Murat Zyazikov. On February 15, 2008, Aushev was detained on suspicion of organizing mass riots - he then held an opposition rally banned by the authorities. Aushev spent four months in prison, then he was acquitted by the Supreme Court of the republic. In the fall of 2008, after the murder of the owner of the opposition website “Ingushetia.Org” Magomed Yevloev (his full namesake, according to investigators, was the perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Domodedovo), Maksharip Aushev took over the management of the Internet resource. True, when power changed in Ingushetia and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov took Zyazikov’s place, Aushev withdrew from opposition activities, declaring that he had achieved what he wanted.

After this, Aushev became a member of the expert council under the Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin.

The Aushev family's lawyer, Musa Pliev, is outraged by the investigators' decision. He told Kommersant that they could, given the importance of the case, turn to the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, with a request to extend the investigation, but did not do so, “because they do not want to deal with it further.” Pliev is going to appeal the decision.