Relatives of Khadjimurad Kamalov point to weak points in investigators' activities

The investigation into the murder of Khadjimurad Kamalov, a founder of the Dagestani newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft), did not advance for a long time, since the law enforcement bodies were not interested to resolve the crime and from the very beginning, they had information about involvement of a top-ranking official in the crime. This was stated by Ali Kamalov, the head of the Dagestani Union of Journalists. 

The Caucasian Knot has reported that on March 22, Alexander Bastrykin, the chair for the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), listened to a report on the progress of the investigation into the case on the murder of journalist Khadjimurad Kamalov and made a decision to transfer the case to the ICRF's central office. On April 5, a source close to the investigators reported that one of four top-ranking Dagestani officials arrested in a case on fraud in implementation of social programmes was suspected of involvement in the Khadjimurad Kamalov's murder. 

The investigators have long had the information about the possible involvement of Shamil Isaev, the arrested former Vice-Premier of Dagestan, in committing other crimes, including the information about his involvement in the murder of Khadjimurad Kamalov, a founder of the newspaper "Chernovik", the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Ali Kamalov, the chairman of the Dagestani Union of Journalists, an uncle of the murdered journalist. 

However, the law enforcement bodies detained the investigation and gave the persons guilty of the murder confidence in their impunity, while the detentions of top-ranking officials were not enough, Ali Kamalov believes.