Two Tajik nationals have been charged with the murder of Russian journalist Iliyas Shurpayev. Earlier, the suspected killers were detained in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe in a joint operation by Russian and local police.
The journalist from Russia's state-run Channel One television station was found strangled in his Moscow apartment last month. The 32-year-old worked for the channel's local branch in Russia's republic of Dagestan and reported from hot spots across the Caucasus. The same day he was murdered, another prominent Dagestani journalist, Gadzhi Abashilov, was gunned down in the capital of the republic. However, police aren't linking the two killings. Investigators in Tajikistan say the motive for Shurpayev's murder was robbery. The two suspects – Masrudjon Yatimov and Nadjmiddin Mukhuddinov – were detained on March 29 and are now in custody in Dushanbe.