Post date: Dec 06, 2012 11:12:36 AM
A journalist employed at a Russian state broadcaster RTR was killed in the Kabardino-Balkaria region on Wednesday (December 5), according to Russian media reports.
NALCHIK, KABARDINO-BALKARIA REGION, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 5, 2012) (RUSSIA 24) - A journalist working for Russian state broadcaster RTR was gunned down in the Kabardino-Balkaria region on Wednesday (December 5), state channel Russia24 reported.
Witnesses who spoke to Russian media said they saw the journalist Kazbek Gekkiyevleaving the headquarters of the regional RTR offices after an evening broadcast on Wednesday (December 5) and being approached by two men who later opened fire."He came out of work, went around the corner and met a girl he knew. They started talking; she bent down to fix tie a shoelace or something. Two people came out of a car, approached him. She didn't pay attention, she thought they were friends. Apparently they asked him: are you TV presenter Kazbek Gekkiyev? He said yes. She started walking away and he tried to catch up, and then there was automatic gunfire," said a unidentified woman who was near the site of the shooting.
Gekkiyev, a journalist and TV news bulletin host, was mourned by family and work colleagues.
Local authorities confirmed the shooting and said an investigation was under way.
"At the moment it has been established that the shots were fired from a remodelled weapon. There were at least three shots," deputy head of a local investigative committeeAlim Babayev told Russia24.
The morning after the shooting relatives and work colleagues visited the site where Gekkiyev was killed to pay respects.
Twenty-two journalists and media workers were killed in Russia between 2000 and 2010, according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, and, Amnesty International has reported that little is being done to investigate attacks on Russian journalists, or address the threats they face.