Ingushetia Opposition Figure Is Shot Dead In Car

A longtime opposition figure in the republic of Ingushetia was killed Sunday morning when his car was strafed with gunfire as he drove along a federal highway, adding another name to the list of activists who have been killed recently in the Northern Caucasus.

Maksharip Aushev, a businessman from a prominent family, was killed and a passenger was wounded when they were shot with automatic weapon fire from a passing vehicle in the neighboring republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, according to the Russian Investigative Committee. Russia’s prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika, said he would personally oversee the investigation.

Mr. Aushev’s life turned a corner in 2007, after his son and nephew were kidnapped. He blamed state security forces for the abductions and threw his considerable clout behind organizing public protests against then-President Murat Zyazikov.

Last year, after the opposition journalist Magomed Yevloyev was shot to death in police custody, Mr. Aushev offered to take responsibility for Mr. Yevloyev’s Web site, Ingushetia.org.

His killing is an unsettling signal, in part because the Kremlin last October removed Mr. Zyazikov and installed Yunus-Bek Yevkurov,who reached out to internal dissidents and seemed to offer them a degree of protection. Mr. Aushev was supportive of Mr. Yevkurov and felt optimistic enough to take a position on a human rights council set up by Russia’s federal ombudsman.

Magomed Mutsolgov, a prominent activist in Ingushetia, said Mr. Aushev’s killing called into question whether Mr. Yevkurov was able to control the violence. Yevkurov was nearly killed in June, when a suicide bomber swerved into his motorcade. “You see how they kill journalists and human rights workers, it continues, and there is no real investigation into any of them,” said Mutsolgov, whose organization, MAShR, tracks violence in the republic.

Mr. Aushev is the third human rights figure killed in the North Caucasus in the last four months, amid a sharp increase in overall violence.In July, Natalya Estemirova, who documented abductions and killings in Chechnya, was forced into a car and found by a roadside hours later. In August, Zarema Sadulayeva, who ran a charity, was found shot dead in the trunk of her car after being seized in her office.

Mr. Aushev had survived a kidnapping attempt in September, and during a recent interview with an Australian television station, he spoke of receiving “very strong information that I was going to be killed.” His colleagues said he remained at odds with Zyazikov’s relatives and continued to criticize the tactics of Russian special forces stationed in the region.

Tanya Lokshina, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Moscow bureau, said the killing raised the question of whether Yevkurov has enough power to safeguard the pluralism he had encouraged. “What is absolutely clear is that human rights activities, political opposition activities, journalist activities in the North Caucasus have become completely lethal,” she said. “This is something the Kremlin must look into, and must do something about.”