In Dagestan, inspectors stop TV journalist's execution case

As stated by Nizam Radjabov, a spokesman from Dagestani investigatory bodies, the criminal investigation into the shooting on September 2, 2008, in Makhachkala of a journalist Abdullah (Telman) Alishaev, editor-in-chief of "Makhachkala-TV", was stopped because of the death of Vadim Butdaev who committed this crime. Vadim's sister, in her turn, believes that her brother was not involved in the murder.

"It has been proved that Alishaev was shot dead by Vadim Butdaev, who was later liquidated on October 17, 2008, in a special operation. Therefore, the criminal case was closed in summer of 2010; now it is in the division of procedural control of the Investigatory Department of the Russian Investigatory Committee for Dagestan," said Nizam Radjabov, senior assistant for contacts with media of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan.

Gyulnara Rustamova, Butdaev's sister and co-chair of the organization named "Human Rights Defence" Gyulnara, said that her brother was innocent. "On that day, Vadim could not be at the place where Alishaev was murdered; he was in the other end of the city. My brother was not guilty of anything; I even asked an Alishaev's acquaintance to show me the criminal case, where there are alleged evidences of Vadim's complicity in the crime, but this man did not even want to talk to me," she said.