Abashilov, Gadzhi Akhmedovich

Gadzhi Akhmedovich Abashilov was born in 1950 in the village of Sogratl in the Gunib district of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ^{[2] [3]} . By nationality - Avar . He graduated from the faculty of foreign languages ​​of Dagestan State University. As an officer, he served in the Soviet Army for two years ^{[2] [3]} .

In 1975, Abashilov began working in the Komsomol. First, he was the secretary of the Komsomol committee of the Polytechnic College, and in the late 1980s he was appointed secretary of the Dagestan regional committee of the Komsomol ^[3] .

In 1990, Abashilov took the post of chief editor of the socio-political newspaper Youth of Dagestan ^[3] (in 1990-1991 he combined it with the post of secretary of the Komsomol regional committee ^{[2] [4]} ).

In March 1999, Abashilov, who had by then become a well-known journalist in the republic, was elected to the Dagestan National Assembly ^[2] . In May 2006, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Information, National Policy and External Relations ^[5] . In the same year, Abashilov appeared in the press as a participant in the XII conference of the Dagestan branch of the Agrarian Party of Russia ^[6] .

In January 2007, Abashilov was appointed chairman of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (GTRK) Dagestan , a branch of the VGTRK Rossiya ^{[7] [8] [9] [4] [10]} . At the same time, he continued cooperation with the newspaper “Youth of Dagestan” - he led the author’s “Column of Gadzhi Abashilov” ^[11] (in September 2007, the editorial board was headed by his son Shamil Abashilov ^{[12] [13]} ). At the same time, Haji Abashilov for some time continued to hold the post of Deputy Minister for Information, National Policy and External Relations of the Republic ^[7] . The journalist himself in an interview with "Youth of Dagestan" said that the government was considering the option of appointing him to the post of head of the ministry. However, in order to maintain a “national balance at the top”, Abashilov’s introduction into the government had to be abandoned (otherwise the cabinet would have to leave Kumyk Bekmurze Bekmurzaev, which would violate the proportions of nationalities that suit the public). “When the President clarified his position to me, I had no objections,” Abashilov emphasized ^{[7] [14]} .

On the evening of March 21, 2008, in the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, in the Uzbek-Gorodok microdistrict, Abashilov’s car was shot by unidentified people with automatic weapons, after which the criminals left on a ninety-nine model Zhiguli. The head of the State Television and Radio Company died on the spot from his injuries, and his driver Akhmed Abakarov was hospitalized with serious wounds. A criminal case was opened on the fact of Abashilov’s death under article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder) ^{[2] [4] [10] [8] [15]} . Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika took the investigation under his personal control ^[8] .

Representatives of the investigative authorities of Dagestan expressed the idea that the crime was related to Abashilov’s professional activities (his colleagues called him an implacable and fierce fighter against extremism ^[15] ). They considered other versions of the murder, in particular - domestic murder ^[10] .

Meanwhile, the media immediately associated this crime with the murder on the same day in Moscow of Channel One correspondent Ilyas Shurpayev , the author of numerous reports on the events in Dagestan and Abkhazia ^[9] . It was noted that both journalists were mentioned in the "black list" of the Dagestani newspaper "Present" (it included those whom the director general of the newspaper Rizvan Rizvanov did not want to see on the pages of the publication and in the editorial office) ^{[16] [16] [17]} . In turn, Rizvanov denied the list information. “All this is false and fictitious,” he emphasized ^[18] .

Abashilov is a laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Dagestan ^[19] . He was awarded the title "Honored Worker of Culture of the Republic of Dagestan", was awarded the medal "Heroic Labor" for his work in a student construction team. In the press Abashilov was mentioned not only as a journalist, but also as the author of the books “Caravan”, “Expansion”, “Position”, “Alternative”, “Frontiers”, “Life Line” ^{[20] [19] [2] [3]} .

"For courage and integrity in upholding universal values ​​shown in the performance of a civic duty" Abashilov was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously. The decree on awarding in February 2009 was signed by President of the Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev ^[21] .

In May 2009, one of the schools in Dagestan was solemnly named after Haji Abashilov ^[22] .

• When writing this article, material ( archive ) from Lentapedia , available under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 Unported license, was used .