Press Release, 03.08.2014

YABLOKO member and candidate for the Kabardino-Balkaria parliament deputy, oppositional journalist and human rights defender Timur Kaushev was found dead in the suburbs of Nalchik, Kabaridino-Balkaria. He was 26 years old.

He was a well-known journalist in the Republic of Kabaridino-Ballaria, one of the organisers of the rallies against use of tortures by police and other civil actions, and closely cooperated with human rights organisations.

Last year Timur received threats form the law enforcement including the Center for Combating Extremism (or Center E, as it is usually referred to, whose officers spend their time monitoring civil activists, harassing them at rallies, and spying on opposition politicians). The journalist applied to police. However, the police considered the information groundless and refused to file a criminal case.

On July 31, 2014, Timur left his flat and headed to a theater where the opening night of a play was to take place (his mother participated in the performance). According to eyewitnesses, unidentified persons took Timur in a car and left.

The next day his body was found in the suburbs of Nalchik, 20 kilometers away from his home.

The local branch of the Investigative Committee refuses to file a criminal case since they claim there’s no evidence of a violent death. However, the autopsist discovered an injection track under Timur’s arm. The results of the expertise will be ready in a few days.

Timur’s relatives and friends are certain that Timur was murdered because of his political activity.

Timur is not the first journalist of the North Caucasus whose death has not been investigated. The murders of Khadzhimurat Kalamov, Gadzhi Abashilov, Nadirshakh Khachikaev, YABLOKO’s friend Natalya Estemirova, Ruslan Nakhushaev and many other journalists have not been brought to responsibility.

According to Timur’s friend, there is a police station outside Timur Kaushev’s block of flats. The station has video cameras filming all cars and people who pass by this block of flats. But the video records can’t be withdrawn without the investigator’s permission. The local Investigative Committee branch doesn’t plan to file a criminal case.

The press release is based on the information form Novaya Gazeta

and the blog of the Editor-in-Chief of “Kavpolit” website Maxim Shevchenko