Nisha Rathode (Editor)

Gadzhi Abashilov

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Nationality
  
Russian

Occupation
  
Journalist


Name
  
Gadzhi Abashilov

Born
  
1950
Gunib district, Dagestan

Died
  
March 21, 2008, Makhachkala, Russia

Alma mater
  
Dagestan State University

Murdered TV boss was on extremists' hit list


Gadzhi Akhmedovich Abashilov (Russian: Гаджи Ахмедович Абашилов; also referred to as "Haji Abashilov"; 1950 – 21 March 2008) was a Russian journalist and chief of the Republic of Dagestan's outlet of state-owned VGTRK media company. He was assassinated in Makhachkala, Dagestan on 21 March 2008 at 19:45 local time.

Contents

Early life and education

Gadzhi Abashilov was born in the Gunib district of Dagestan in 1950. He graduated from Dagestan State University after studying at the foreign languages faculty.

Career

From 1975 to 1991, Abashilov was employed in local Komsomol structures, and in late 1980s he led Dagestani VLKSM Committee. From 1991 to 2006, Abashilov was chief editor of "Molodezh' Dagestana" (Молодежь Дагестана, Youths of Dagestan). In 1999, he was elected a member of local legislature, then was appointed deputy head of republican ministry of information, national policy and external affairs. Abashilov also presented his own television programme until 2007. January 2007, he became chief of Dagestan State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

Death

Gadzhi Abashilov was assassinated in the evening of 21 March 2008. His car was fired on in the central part of Makhachkala where Abashilov died at the scene and his driver was injured. In the early hours of the same day another Dagestani journalist, Ilyas Shurpayev, who had worked for years in the republic as a correspondent of NTV and Channel One, was found strangled in Moscow.

Reactions

The European Union urged Russia to find the murderers of the two journalists soon. The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, condemned both murders on 28 March 2008.

References

Gadzhi Abashilov Wikipedia