Briefs

– Dagestani Journalists Assaulted

Zaur Gaziev, an opposition journalist who is a political correspondent for the Dagestani weekly Svobodnaya Respublika, and Ruslan Gabibulaev, an anchorman with the Republican State Broadcasting Company (RGVK), were severely beaten in Makhachkala, Dagestan’s capital, on February 29. The website of The Other Russia opposition coalition on March 1 quoted Gaziev as saying that doctors had diagnosed him with a concussion but that he refused hospitalization out of fear for his family. Gabibulin, who had a tooth knocked out and a swollen cheek, told the website he felt “normal compared with Zaur.” On March 3, Kommersant quoted Gaziev as saying that he had been repeatedly threatened over the prior month and believed the attack was an attempt to intimidate him. Gaziev previously worked as an RGVK anchorman but stepped down after he started writing articles for Svobodnaya Respublika criticizing Dagestan’s president, Mukhu Aliev and his protégés, accusing them, among other things, of “debaucerhy and theft.”

– Police Convoy Bombed in Dagestan

Two bombs hit a police convoy in Khasavyurt, Dagestan, on March 2, injuring two people, the Associated Press reported. The news agency quoted Mark Tolchinsky, spokesman for the Dagestani police headquarters in Makhachkala, as saying that the first bomb exploded as a police patrol truck passed by and that while no one was hurt in that blast, a second bomb detonated when police reinforcements came to investigate, injuring one officer and a passer-by