Once more an opposition-minded journalist and political activist was killed in Russia. Magomed Evloev who was arrested yesterday by Ingushetian police died hours later by a shot in his head. Authorities still claim that it his death was accidental, but this version is hardly credible. Evloyev ran the website www.ingushetiya.ru. In his most recent camapign against the authorities, Evloyev tried to unveil electoral fraud in the State Duma elections in Ingushetiya in December 2007. He questioned the official voter turnout and had been collecting signatures of those who had not taken part in the elections (Ya ni golosoval).

Ingushetiya is ruled by the hawkish silovik Murat Zyazikov. He was elected leader of this north caucasian republic back in 2002 (very much supported by Vladimir Putin), replacing the highly popular and most skilfull regional president Ruslan Aushev. Zyazikov is highly unpopular among Ingushetians. The domestic strife has increased under his rule, corruption thrives and the socio-economic situation deteriorates. The tiny republic is also plagued by radical Islamist groups who do use violence for their cause. Many of them had fled from Chechnya to Ingushetiya.

Federal Interior Ministr Troops often use indiscrimante and incommensurate violence against those terrorists, thus further radicalizing the poeple’s resentment against the local leader. Ingsuhetiya today is a tinderbox in the volatile north Caucasian region.