Akhmednabiev, Akhmednabi Omardibirovich

In addition to journalism, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev was involved in medicine. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine and later specialized as a cardiologist . He worked as a doctor in his native village of Karata, then moved to Makhachkala. ^[5]

By nationality Avar .

Over the course of his journalistic career, Akhmednabiev has repeatedly received threats against him. In May 2012, he received an SMS with threats after covering a protest rally in Makhachkala related to the killing of five people in Kizlyar two months before. Akhmednabiev made public the text of the message and sent a statement to the head of the Federal Security Service with a request to sort out the situation and find those who sent the message. ^[5]

Akhmednabiev served as deputy chief editor of the New Business weekly, one of the leading local Russian newspapers. This is a socio-political publication, in particular, articles that criticize the authorities are published and corruption issues are highlighted. ^[6] The New Deal newspaper, founded in 1991, has become a highly respected publication in Dagestan due to its political positions and criticism of the authorities. ^[7]
Akhmednabiev mainly wrote about human rights violations and paid special attention to cases of torture and attempted murder, in which the police were allegedly involved. ^[5] He also wrote about the political situation in Dagestan.

According to the colleagues of Akhmednabiev, his most recent works were focused on the head of his native Akhvakh region, which Akhmednabiev criticized [1] . ^[7]

Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev died at the age of 54 from numerous bullet wounds near his home in Semender. On July 9, 2013 at 7.30 a.m. after Akhmednabiev got into his car, shots were fired at her from a passing car. The car disappeared, and Akhmednabiev suddenly died on the spot. ^[5]

Akhmednabiev was not injured in the previous attempt on his life on January 11, 2013, when the attackers shot him from a car near his house. ^[5]

Instead of investigating the assassination case, the local prosecutor's office opened a case of property damage. After the death of Akhmednabiev, the case was reviewed and added to the ongoing investigation into his murder, since both events are related to his journalistic activities. ^[5]

In 2009, the name of Akhmednabiev was included in the “death list”, distributed in anonymous leaflets in Makhachkala. The names of another 8 journalists appeared on this list, one of whom was also shot dead in Dagestan in 2011. ^[8] The authors of the list demanded revenge for the death of Russian police. Authorities did not disclose the names of the authors of the list, but there were rumors that it was compiled by relatives of Dagestan police officers killed by members of extremist religious groups. ^[7]

According to one of Akhmednabiev’s colleagues, Akhmednabiyev’s name was added to this list because in his articles he criticized law enforcement officials and often defended the Muslim population of Dagestan, for which the authors of the list attributed him to a religious group ^[7]

Akhmednabiev became the seventeenth journalist killed in Dagestan since 1993. ^[9]

The death of Akhmednabiev is an example of the danger faced by journalists writing about human rights violations in Russia. As a result, journalists have to be more careful and censor their work themselves. ^[9] Numerous killings of Russian journalists remain unsolved, which negatively affects the media community. ^[8] Publications such as The New Deal are under pressure from law enforcement agencies and threatened with litigation and attempts to close them. ^[7] Dagestan became known as one of the most dangerous places in Russia for journalistic work, while Russia ranks 9th among the most dangerous countries for journalists, where since 1990, 340 reports of murders of journalists have been received, and only 20% of them were investigated. ^[7]

On the day of the murder of Akhmednabiev, more than 170 Russian journalists participated in the mourning procession. Akhmednabiev’s body was carried along the streets of Makhachkala. Participants in the procession carried placards that read “Who is next?” ^[5] as a call to provide protection to journalists exposed to threats and to adequately classify crimes against them.

Dunya Miyatovich , OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, did not ignore the murder of Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev on July 9, 2013. She stated that his death is a reminder to Russia that more needs to be done to ensure and guarantee the safety of journalists. ^[10]

Ambassador Jan Kelly , being the US representative to the OSCE, addressed the Permanent Council, one of the main bodies of the OSCE, on a weekly meeting in Vienna on July 11, 2013. ^[11] In a statement, Ambassador Kelly noted that the United States strongly condemns the killing of Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev. He also said that attacks on journalists in Russia continue to cause serious concern. ^[12]

Both Miyatovich and Kelly enthusiastically accepted the statement of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation that the investigation into the murder of Akhmednabiev is of paramount importance. ^{[8] [10]}

The famous Russian journalist Maxim Shevchenko twice directly contacted V.V. Putin about the investigation into the murder, but there was no reaction, the investigation did not budge.