Gadzhi Akhmedovich Abashilov (russian: Гаджи Ахмедович Абашилов; 1950 – 21 March 2008), also known as Haji Abashilov, was a Russian journalist and chief of the

Republic of Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia sit ...

's outlet of state-owned VGTRK media company. He was assassinated in

Makhachkala Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

on 21 March 2008 at 19:45 local time.

Early life and education

Gadzhi Abashilov was born in the

Gunib Gunib ( av, Гъуниб), also spelled Ghunib,e.g., Francis Galton, ''Vacation Tourists and Notes of Travel in 1860 861, 1862-3', Vol. 3, p. 81; Moshe Gammer, ''Muslim Resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the Conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan' ...

district of Dagestan in 1950. He graduated from

Dagestan State University Dagestan State University (russian: Дагестанский государственный университет) is a public university in Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan which is a federal subject in the Russian Federation. It is one of th ...

after studying at the foreign languages faculty.

Career

From 1975 to 1991, Abashilov was employed in local

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

structures, and in late 1980s he led Dagestani

VLKSM The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

Committee. From 1991 to 2006, Abashilov was chief editor of "Molodezh' Dagestana" (''Молодежь Дагестана'', ''Youths of Dagestan''). In 1999, he was elected a member of local legislature, then was appointed deputy head of republican ministry of information, national policy and external affairs. Abashilov also presented his own television programme until 2007. January 2007, he became chief of Dagestan State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

Death

Gadzhi Abashilov was assassinated in the evening of 21 March 2008. His car was fired on in the central part of Makhachkala where Abashilov died at the scene and his driver was injured. In the early hours of the same day another Dagestani journalist,

Ilyas Shurpayev Ilyas Imranovich Shurpayev (russian: Ильяс Имранович Шурпаев; 25 July 1975, Makhachkala – 21 March 2008, Moscow) was a Russian television journalist and Channel One (Russia) correspondent. Life and career Shurpayev was born ...

, who had worked for years in the republic as a correspondent of

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

and Channel One, was found

strangled Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Reactions

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, condemned both murders on 28 March 2008.

References

External links

Biography
1950 births 2008 deaths People from Gunibsky District Assassinated Russian journalists Deaths by firearm in Russia Journalists killed in Russia People murdered in Russia Assassinated people from Dagestan Writers from Dagestan 20th-century Russian journalists {{Europe-tv-bio-stub