Kazbek Gekkiyev

Kazbek Gekkiyev (, c. 1984 – 5 December 2012), a Russian TV news presenter and journalist for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, was shot three times in the head and killed by a gunman outside of his workplace. The gunmen are believed to be linked to the Islamic insurgency in the North Caucasus. He was the seventh journalist killed in the North Caucasus in ten years in connection to his work.

Personal Gekkiyev was 28 years old at the time of his murder. He was born in Russia and lived in the village of Zhankhoteko in Kabardino-Balkaria, in Russia. He studied at a school. As a journalist he reported about social issues that didn't attract much attention publicly. Colleagues did not know of any motives for killing Gekkiyev as his reports were never connected to crime or the insurgency in the North Caucasus.

Death Kazbek Gekkiyev died from three gun shot wounds to the head shot by two men with an automatic weapon late Wednesday night on 5 December 2012 around 9:00 p.m. night local time (17:00 GMT). Law enforcement started searching for Boziev in 2011 but he went to the forest after he was ordered not to leave. He then joined a group of local armed underground and eventually became the primary candidate as the replacement KBR gunman following the death of the group's leaders.

Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media urged the authorities to put an end to the impunity by investigating of all killings of journalists. Mijatovic said, "Journalists in Russia are far too often subject to acts of intimidation, threats, and attacks. Sadly, some of these brave members of the media have paid the ultimate price for their fearless work."

President and spokesperson for Russia's Federal Investigation Committee, Vladimir Markin condemned the shooting by comment in Moscow on Thursday 6 December 2012, by saying that the killers violated the victim's "right to live and also the right to disseminate information. At this moment, we can say that the most probable motive was Gekkiyev's professional activity. We can view this impudent crime as a threat to other journalists speaking about the results of the struggle against the bandits underground". "Before killing Gekkiyev, the suspects made sure he was indeed a journalist, the host of a news program, which confirms the main suspected motive."

In an interview about Gekkiyev's murder, Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of the Memorial human rights group, said that this may indicate that these underground groups are prepared to become even more violent. "The new resistance leaders who are younger and have far fewer qualms as who to attack and kill for the sake of their cause must have decided to abide by fewer limits of violence as well, including violence that can now be aimed at journalists too." A popular television presenter and member of the presidential Public Chamber does not agree with Cherkasov and does not believe that Gekkiyev's death was politically motivated.