First sitting of public inquiry commission into Khadjimurad Kamalov's murder held in Dagestan

Members of the commission investigating the assassination of Khadjimurad Kamalov, the founder of the newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft), demanded to reveal, for what purposes the funds allocated for support of the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) went, and urged the federal authorities to finance the programme "Safe City".

The commission consists of 16 persons. At the first session held on December 21, two members of the commission were challenged.

Ali Kamalov, Chairman of the Journalists' Union of the Republic of Dagestan, proposed to withdraw from the commission Abdukhalim Machaev, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Budget, Finance and Taxation, the former head of the Gunib District.

According to Ali Kamalov, this proposal is associated with the fact that the newspaper "Chernovik" criticized activity of Abdukhalim Machaev as the head of the Gunib District. On December 16, the issue of the weekly newspaper "Chernovik" published the last article, written by Khadjimurad Kamalov, the newspaper's founder, on the situation in the Gunib District. The material was published after the assassination of its author.

Biyakai Magomedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Chernovik", has also proposed to withdraw from the committee Magomed Amirov, Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Legislation, Lawfulness and State Construction. The challenge is associated with the fact that Magomed Amirov is the son of Said Amirov, Mayor of Makhachkala, whose work also had been repeatedly criticized by the newspaper "Chernovik".

The solution on both candidates will be accepted at the next session of the commission.

According to Ali Kamalov, recently, 14 journalists were assassinated in Dagestan. "When a man wants to do something useful for the republic, he will be immediately assassinated," stated Ali Kamalov. He has added that he has no hope that power agents will solve the assassination.

According to the Chairman of the Journalists' Union of the Republic of Dagestan, Khadjimurad Kamalov had repeatedly emphasized that power agents did not work in the republic and that there were no qualified specialists to solve murders. Besides, Ali Kamalov has added that the technical equipment of the Dagestani police is far from the modern one. "It turned out that the cameras mounted in Gadjiev Street, where the assassination occurred, were not able to record the number of the car, in which the assassinator escaped," stated Ali Kamalov.

Zubairu Zubairuev, the head of information and analytical department under the President of Dagestan, the emergency meeting of representatives of the media and public figures, held in the edition office of the newspaper "Chernovik" on December 18, "barely managed to convince some people to refuse holding rallies and protest actions."

Zubairu Zubairuev also proposed to prepare an urgent appeal to the federal authorities with a request to finance as soon as possible the programme "Safe City", which involves installation of surveillance cameras throughout the entire city of Makhachkala.

According to Biyakai Magomedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Chernovik", Dagestani law enforcement agencies have no incentives to solve the assassination of Khadjimurad Kamalov. He suggested the commission appealing to the federal authorities to create a special secret investigation team, which would include the best investigators of Russia.

"We need to find out where the money for support of the Republic's MIA goes and who has won the tender for installation of cameras," believes Biyakai Magomedov.

The editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Chernovik" does not rule out that the assassinators of Khadjimurad Kamalov had relationships with law enforcement agencies. According to Biyakai Magomedov, not far from the edition office of the newspaper "Chernovik", "almost every evening, officers from the road-and-patrol service (DPS) were on duty; however, on the day of the assassination, police officers were not at their usual place for some reason."

Journalist Khabib Magomedov, proposed the commission to appeal to the relevant agencies for permission to purchase arms to journalists at risk.

The next session of the commission will finally approve its members and form working groups.