Hundreds rally at government critic's funeral in Russia

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hundreds of angry mourners protested Monday at the funeral of a government critic and independent Web site journalist killed by police in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, a rights activist said. Colleagues said Magomed Yevloyev died Sunday after a police car picked him up from an airport in the Ingushetia province and then dumped him on the road with a gunshot wound in the head. Regional prosecutor Yuri Turygin said a police officer "accidentally" shot Yevloyev after the journalist allegedly tried to take away the officer's gun, the Interfax news agency reported. Colleagues and activists rejected that explanation. Rights activist Magomed Mutsolgov said he believes Yevloyev was "deliberately and cynically" killed by Ingush authorities as retribution for running an online publication that reported on widespread allegations of abuses, abductions and killings in Ingushetia.