Gadzhimurat Kamalov

Gadzhimurat Magomedovich Kamalov, (; 11 February 1965 – 15 December 2011) was a Russian investigative journalist and the owner of Svoboda Slova (translated as "Freedom of Speech"), the media company that published the newspaper Chernovik.

Kamalov was shot dead in an apparent assassination as his name had been put on a hit list for his reporting on Muslim rebel activity in the Republic of Dagestan, and he had been well known for his reporting on corruption. His death had a chilling effect on other journalists. was born in the village of Sogratl, in the Gunibsky District of Dagestan, Russia. He was married and had one child. His uncle, Ali Kamalov, was the chair of the Union of Journalists in Dagestan at the time his nephew was killed.

He was educated in engineering at the Dagestan Polytechnic Institute in 1982 and later at the Leningrad Technical University in 1990.

Work On 19 August 2003, Kamalov founded the newspaper Chernovik (, which translates as "Rough Draft"), which was well known for investigating government corruption in Dagestan. Khalilov was killed on 18 September 2007 before the article was published. He had been sought after as a high-profile terrorist target because of his involvement in the 1999 raid from Chechnya into Dagestan and a 2002 bombing that killed 40 people. The editor of Chernovik was called to the prosecutor's office and warned before charges were filed.

Biyakai Magomedov, the current editor of Chernovik, said, "The corrupt structures have been afraid of us. [...] They couldn’t defeat us in courts, because we won practically all the cases."

Media source Besides being behind the news, Gadzhimurat Kamalov was often called on to be a source for media outlets who were looking for an expert to analyze the deteriorating situation in Dagestan.

Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, 8 July 2005 [Kamalov]: "Neither the opposition, nor the Republic of Dagestan's official regional authorities, will be able to sort this situation out [... ] I can tell you that the people are increasingly going to the mosques already with the fully conscious understanding that the laws of the Russian Federation cannot operate in the Republic of Dagestan, but that the alternative traditional laws work. To be more exact, those with a basis in Shar'iah law work. And so the number of people with such an understanding of legislation and law-enforcement is increasing. And neither the opposition, nor the regional authorities, faced with this fully formed third force are able to handle this."

Kamalov questions security operation On 28 June 2008, Kamalov told Ekho Moskvy, Moscow, that the security forces had killed three people who were not militants but one was a university educator whom Kamalov knew. Kamalov said, "A knock on the door [...] is considered a dangerous thing here. Here everybody is afraid of the police. He once told me that if at any time they would come to his place, he would refuse to open the door. It was precisely because he was afraid of an unauthorized search of his flat that [he] must have refused to open the door to them. Thus, they had a justification to storm the flat." The same account was published in print.

Activism On 26 September 2005, Gadzhimurat Kamalov organized an unprecedented protest in Makhachkala against the action of the Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communication to stop the printing and distribution of issues of the Chernovik. Fifty journalists and supporters participated in the protest.

On 25 November 2011, Kamalov led a protest of somewhere between 3,000 and 5,700 participants against the unlawful use of force and the disappearance of civilians allegedly by security forces, an issue on which Chernovik has focused. The gunman was masked, shot 14 rounds in total, and sped away from the scene of the crime in a black Lada Priora. Kamalov had previously received death threats in September 2009 when he was one of eight journalists included in a hit list distributed anonymously in Makhachkala. and the newspaper's reputation for modern muckraker journalism was well known outside of the North Caucasus.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO both called for a credible investigation into the Kamalov assassination. Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO, said, "Fear must not be allowed to muzzle media professionals, deny reporters the basic human right of freedom of expression and bar citizens from accessing information."

Magomedsalam Magomedov, president of Dagestan, said: "He always came out for unity and peace, and carrying out dialogue [...] This is a big loss not just for journalists, but for the whole republic." The president's office officially took control over the murder investigation.

Context According to the BBC, assassination in Dagestan has become routine as the levels of violence in the autonomous Republic of Dagestan have risen. The republic is seated between the Caspian Sea and Chechnya. Whereas in Chechnya, rebels have been advocating independence from Russia, in Dagestan the conflict with the rebels is described as more diffuse. Dagestan is a muli-ethnic country with Avars being the largest among them. The majority of citizens practice Sufi Islam but younger people are attracted to the Salafist brand of Islam. The mafia is active throughout the country and use violence, kidnapping and murder to intimidate victims. The problems feeding the violence in Dagestan are therefore a diffuse blend of ethnic, religious, generational, criminal, and authoritarian causes.

Dagestan's press is described by both BBC News Press freedom organizations, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders, have called for the immediate investigation of Kamalov's murder. Russia, however, is on the CPJ's list of the top 10 countries with the worst records of impunity in the killing of journalists.

Malik Akhmedilov, the daily editor of the Hakikat (Translated: The Truth), was killed on 11 August 2009. Abdulla Alishayev, a TV host on TV-Chirkei, was killed on 2 September 2008. Magomedzagid Varisov, the editor of Novoye Delo, was killed on 28 June 2005.

Other journalists who were killed but were unconfirmed by CPJ:

Gadzhi Abashilov, the head of Dagestan's state broadcasting company, was killed in Makhachkala on 21 March 2008.

Additionally, Reporters Without Borders lists:

Yakhya Magomedov, a journalist working for Assalam (Russian: Ассалам), was killed in Kokrek, Dagestan on 8 May 2011.

The newspapers in Dagestan with the highest circulations have all experienced the murder of one of their journalists. The top selling news products in Dagestan, include Assalam, which has the highest circulation and is a moderate Muslim bi-weekly; Novoye Delo and Chernovik. Unlike the others, Chernovik is an independent newspaper. The popularity of the media has a negative side. The media are caught in the middle as they are a visible target in which all the forces facing Dagestan can attack to get at their enemies (p. 9).