On Tuesday there was an attack made on Miloslav Bitokov, the editor-in-chief of the weekly “Gazeta Yuga”. The incident happened in the city of Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria. 

The attack was done at 7:30 p.m. in a block of flats where three young men, one them wearing a respiratory mask, had been waiting for the journalist. Having bashed him the young men disappeared leaving the victim’s notebook and purse untouched.  

The doctors pronounced brains concussion, shift of zygomatic bone and nose fracture.  

Zarema Khadartseva, deputy editor-in-chief, relates the incident to professional activities by Mr. Bitokov. “A month ago an authoritative businessman made a visit to our editorial office and stated directly that the republican leadership does not like the way the home events are covered by us, as there is too much of negative information. However, we are not an opposing periodical, just informational one” comments Zarema. “We are not interfering in politics, and we do not give an appraisal. For example, 28 August in the Nalchik suburb named Belaya Rechka the FSB officers made a trap for illegal gunmen. There was an action where Captain Nekipenko and two police officers were killed. It’s only us to give information about that, no other media source did it. We just pronounce the facts in the informational field. It seems that even that does not suit the authority”.   

The republican GUVD press service reported that a criminal case will be started within three days.   

...Approximately at same time, an attack was made on a TV journalist Telman Alishaev in a suburb of the Dagestan capital. Unknown people approached his car and shot at him with a Makarov model gun. The wounded journalist was brought to the Republican clinic where he died. Telman Alishaev worked at the Islamic channel TV Chirkei, and he was inventor of many religious TV programs.   

”Most probably, his murder is related to his professional activities. The way he was killed proves it has been Islamic fighters”. Such is an opinion by Gadjimurad Kamalov, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper “Chernovik”.