Translated material
Without trial or investigation
The case of the murder of Magomed Evloev drowned in a bureaucratic whirlpool
The investigation into the circumstances of the death of the Ingush oppositionist, former owner of the website “Ingushetia.ru” Magomed Evloev, who was shot on August 31, 2008 right in a police car , seems to have finally become entangled in the bureaucratic corridors. The Directorate of the Investigative Committee for Ingushetia, as Vremya Novostei learned, decided not to initiate a criminal case into his illegal detention by police officers, during which the oppositionist died. In March, the Investigative Committee initially decided to launch such an investigation, but the Ingushetia prosecutor's office canceled the relevant resolution for formal reasons and returned it to the investigators for revision. The “finalization” ended with another decision - a refusal to initiate a case.In addition, the fate of another criminal case remains unclear - actually the murder of Magomed Evloev, in which it is believed that he was the victim of an accidental shot. This case was brought to court at the end of last year, but consideration of its merits also cannot begin.
36-year-old lawyer and oppositionist Magomed Yevloev was killed on August 31 last year immediately after being detained at Magas airport, where he flew from Moscow. According to the official version, the police decided to forcibly bring him for questioning to the investigator as a witness in one of the criminal cases. But on the way in the car, he allegedly had an altercation with law enforcement officers, and in the confusion, one of them - the head of security for the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia Musa Medov and the detainee's namesake Ibragim Evloev - allegedly accidentally pulled the trigger. As a result, the bullet hit the oppositionist directly in the temple, and he died. Officially, the investigation claimed that all this happened by accident.
But the relatives and supporters of Magomed Evloev immediately stated that this was an open reprisal by the then authorities of the republic against an undesirable politician. According to them, the oppositionist flew from Moscow on the same plane with the former President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, and an altercation allegedly occurred between them. And immediately after landing, the security of the head of the republic pushed Magomed Evloev into a car and took him away, after which he allegedly died by accident.
A little later, Mr. Evloev’s relatives declared a blood feud against Mr. Zyazikov, the republic’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Musa Medov, and more than a dozen other people who were considered involved in the crime. From the beginning of the investigation, the injured party insisted that the very detention of the oppositionist at the airport was illegal. According to the law, the forced delivery of a witness for questioning is used only if the witness repeatedly and without good reason ignores the investigator’s subpoenas. Magomed Evloev, as it turned out, was called to the investigator only once, and he warned in advance about his absence for a good reason.
Representatives of Mr. Evloev’s family were able to get the Supreme Court of Ingushetia to recognize the fact of his illegal detention. On this basis, they tried to reclassify the criminal case regarding the death of an oppositionist - from Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence) at Art. 105 (murder), but this has not yet been done.
According to the lawyer of the Evloev family, Magomed Gandarov, the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee, without explaining the reasons, simply changed their mind about investigating the illegal detention of the oppositionist, although there are more than enough reasons for this. The lawyer recalled that the fact of the illegal detention of Mr. Evloev was recognized by the Nazran District Court of Ingushetia back in November, which was later confirmed by the Supreme Court of the republic. In addition, investigator of the Nazran City Department of Internal Affairs Dzhambulat Shankhoev, who signed the resolution to bring Magomed Yevloev for questioning, publicly admitted in February of this year that he did this after the death of the oppositionist and under pressure from his boss, head of the Nazran City Department of Internal Affairs Akhmed Kotiev.
Based on these materials and at the insistence of the oppositionist’s relatives, the department of the Investigative Committee for Ingushetia on March 11 opened a case of abuse against the police officers who carried out the arrest. But the next day, the republic's prosecutor's office declared the decision to initiate the case illegal.
Prosecutors sent the case for revision, considering that the pre-investigation check was not carried out properly and not in full. The prosecutor's office explained that the investigator of the Investigative Committee did not indicate in the resolution who was specifically suspected of illegally detaining Mr. Evloev; the document allegedly referred only to abstract “employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” As Deputy Prosecutor of Ingushetia Sergei Zhilin stated then, after an additional check, a second decision should be made to initiate or refuse to initiate a criminal case. However, no additional statements were made from the UPC at that time.
According to lawyer Gandarov, he became aware that the SKP decided not to initiate a case against the police officers who detained Evloev at the end of April, when he appealed the decision of the prosecutor’s office on this issue in the Nazran court. According to him, the judge personally contacted the Investigative Committee of Ingushetia for clarification, to which the investigators stated that they were refusing further investigation. The lawyer noted that he should receive a copy of the decision to refuse to initiate the case only today.
Mr. Gandarov has no doubt that the investigation is under pressure from the former leadership of the republic, which, in the event of an objective investigation, may end up in the dock. In his opinion, after the public confession of investigator Shankhoev, it is enough to “pull a thread” to follow the chain to the direct initiator and organizer of both the illegal detention and the murder of Magomed Evloev. But, according to the lawyer, this is not profitable for the law enforcement agencies of Ingushetia and they are deliberately delaying the investigation.
The republican department of the Investigative Committee yesterday, in response to a written request from Vremya Novostey about the fate of the criminal case against the police officers who detained Evloev, said that they could not provide any information on this issue.
The situation around the main case regarding the death of Magomed Evloev, which was brought against Ibragim Evloev, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code. It was transferred to the Nazran District Court last year, but consideration on the merits was constantly postponed for various reasons. And when the process will begin is still unknown.
Recently, the delay has been caused by requests from the defense of the accused to transfer the hearing to another region. According to the lawyer of the accused, holding the trial in Ingushetia is unsafe for the former head of the security of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, since a blood feud has been declared against him, and he himself is not in custody, but under an undertaking not to leave. The Nazran court initially decided to leave this petition unsatisfied, but then the Supreme Court of Ingushetia overturned this verdict, sending the case to the same court for a new trial. The district court again decided to consider the criminal case in Ingushetia, and the defense of the accused again protested this decision. On April 21, the Supreme Court of Ingushetia finally decided to consider the criminal case on the territory of the republic, but the start date for the hearings was not determined after that.