Bely Parokhod
December 22, 2009, in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk, who used the penname
Ibragim Rustambek, died in a hospital in
Pavlyuk, 40, described by colleagues as one of
Pavlyuk, an ethnic Russian, had headed the Kyrgyz bureaus of
the Russian newspapers Argumenty i Fakty
and Komsomolskaya Pravda before
becoming editor-in-chief of the independent Kyrgyz newspaper Bely Parokhod. The publication was known
for its examination of high-level corruption and its critical coverage of President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said
Pavlyuk was found unconscious on the evening of December 16, sprawled on the overhang of an Almaty apartment building entrance, his hands and legs bound with tape, the Kazakhstan Interior Ministry said. It was not immediately clear why Pavlyuk had gone to the building or whom he had met there. A police search of a sixth-floor apartment found a roll of tape, Pavlyuk's jacket, a key for an Almaty hotel room that he had checked into earlier that day, and an empty laptop bag, the ministry said.
A security camera at the Almaty hotel captured images of Pavlyuk leaving with an unidentified man earlier that day, the Kyrgyz news agency AKIpress said. The windows in the apartment from which Pavlyuk apparently fell were not broken, AKIpress said. Pavlyuk suffered multiple injuries caused by the fall, according to doctors with Almaty's central city hospital. He died at around 6 a.m. on December 22, never having regained consciousness, the independent Kazakh newspaper Respublika reported.In November 2010, Kazakh prosecutors announced they had detained a former Kyrgyz security service agent Aldayar Ismankulov, whom they indicted on separate counts of abduction, extortion, and murder, the Russian service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Authorities also arrested two suspected accomplices, Kazakh nationals Almaz Igilikov and Shlakar Urazalin. Investigators did not name a mastermind.
On October 11, an Almaty court found the defendants guilty in Pavlyuk's murder and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms, regional and international press reported. Ismankulov was convicted in the killing and sentenced to 17 years in prison; Urazalin and Igilikov received 11 and 10 year prison terms respectively for their roles, the independent regional website Fergana News reported. The court found that Pavlyuk's journalism was the motive, but it did not specify the details or name a mastermind.
Medium: Print
Job: Editor
Beats Covered: Corruption
Gender: Male
Local or Foreign: Foreign
Freelance: No
Type of Death: Murder
Suspected Source of Fire: Government Officials
Impunity: Partial
Taken Captive: No
Tortured: No
Threatened: No
Related Articles:
- Kazakh investigators cast Pavlyuk murder as robbery, March 24, 2011
- CPJ asks Obama to raise poor press record with Kazakhstan, April 8, 2010
- Kazakh police: Kyrgyz citizens suspected in editor’s killing, December 29, 2009
- Prominent Kyrgyz journalist killed in Kazakhstan , December 22, 2009
