Journalists of the TV and radio company in Nalchik where the killed Gekkiev had worked earlier received threats from gunmen

Journalists of the TV and radio company in Kabardino-Balkaria where Kazbek Gekkiev killed in Nalchik had worked earlier received threats from gunmen. Several days before Gekkiev’s murder gunmen in Dagestan also spoke of “execution lists” for journalists.

Kazbek Gekkiev aged 28 died in the evening of December, 5, as a result of an armed attack. An unidentified person shot at him after he verified the journalist’s name and the fact of his working at the TV company by asking him about it.

As of today, the main version is the one connected with Gekkiev’s professional activities, web-site “News of Committee of Inquiry of the Russian Federation” reports. The report also specifies that the crime is regarded as a threat to other journalists who speak about the results of struggle against armed underground active in the territory of the republic.

Besides, there is an information that the hosts of the TV program “Vesti. Kabardino-Balkaria” repeatedly received threats. In particular, this February there were such threats to Arina Zhilyasova and Anzor Attaev. A video record appeared on the Internet where one of the gunmen’s leaders promised to cripple the journalists and threatened to “leave them smiles forever” for broadcasting reports of counter-terrorist operations in detail.

The lost Gekkiev worked on the TV two years and only six pas months hosted nightly news broadcasts, “Vesti.ru” reports adding that none of his colleagues knew the reason for the attempt at him for he did not deal with acute criminal themes or prepared reports on counter-terrorist operation in Northern Caucasus.

A digest of Glastost Defense Foundation dated October, 29, reports that members of armed underground threatened journalists and owners of informational web-sites of Northern Caucasus. According to correspondent of the Foundation in South-Caucasian Federal Okrug Natalia Yusupova, an article at one of the web-sites supporting gunmen in KBR is full of grudge against all those who dare express opinions against extremists, including posts on the net forums.

Gunmen of Dagestan posted a similar message on one of the web-sites on December, 1. They blame representatives of mass media for criminal reports, falsifications in the news and pronounce death penalty to some of them whose names they do not make public.  

It should be reminded that in 2009 the “Caucasian Knot” reported leaflets in Dagestan whose anonymous authors promised to execute the gunmen’s “accomplices” numbering several human rights activists, lawyers and journalists among such. There were eight Dagestani journalists on the list. There could be members of the top brass at the background of distribution of these leaflets “who practice extrajudicial executions of gunmen”, Khajumurad Kamalov, founder of the Dagestani journal “Chernovik” whose name was also on the “execution list”, declared then. Later, on December, 15, 2011, Kamalov was killed in Makhachkala.