Date
01/08/2010  
First
Malika  
Surname
BETIEVA  
Sex/Age
F, 44  
Incident
accident  
Motive
nJ  
Place
road  
Job
chief editor, deputy  
Medium
press and internet  
Federal District Plus
Chechnya  
Street, Town, Region
Starye Atagi, Chechnya  
Freelance
no  
Local/National
local, "Molodyozhnaya smena"  
Other Ties
Chechnya correspondent of "Dosh" magazine  
Cause of Death
car crash (7 involved, 3 vehicles)  
Legal Qualification
 
Impunity
investigation  
Post Image

FAMOUS JOURNALIST AND ALL HER FAMILY DIE IN ROAD ACCIDENT (August 2010)

An hour ago, before sunset, five people were buried in Chiri-Yurt, a village in the Shali district of Chechnya. The road accident that ended the lives of Malika Betiyeva and members of her family took place today, on the road between the villages of Starye Atagi and Chiri-Yurt. Malika and her family were on their way to the graveyard in Chiri-Yurt in order to tidy up her mother-in-law’s grave before the beginning of Ramadan. They were driving in their right-hand drive Nissan on the road to Chiri-Yurt when a Kamaz truck created an obstruction and, as a result, a very fast-moving Lexus jeep crashed into their car. The force of the collision was so great that the Nissan was turned into a heap of metal and its driver and passengers were instantly killed. Two passengers in the Lexus were also seriously injured.

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AN IRREPARABLE LOSS (August 2010)

Statement by Dosh magazine staff GDF Digest 484 (E), August 2010

The “Dosh” (Word) magazine has suffered an irreparable loss. Our North Caucasus correspondent Malika Betiyeva has died a tragic death in Chechnya together with her family. A car crash on the highway between Grozny and Shatoi took the lives of Malika, her two sons aged 14 and 12, her husband and his sister.

She was a very gifted and courageous reporter. Although she also worked for a republican youth newspaper, she contributed a variety of stories to our magazine, often probing very sensitive themes at the risk to her life.

Time and again, concerned for Malika's safety, we would publish her reports under an assumed name, and sometimes even delay publication until later. She wrote about the lawless behaviour of the force agencies which had repeatedly tried to pass off killed civilians as militants and fighters; about pressure on students' parents in some Grozny high schools to pay for the school uniform (which is not officially required); and many other topical issues.

With others among our regional correspondents Betiyeva was recently busy organizing an essay competition, announced by the “Dosh” magazine, describing ‘How the War Changed My Life’ in Chechnya. The purpose of the contest is to draw public attention to the problems facing tens of thousands of people who were crippled during the course of the two last wars (1994-6, 1999-2008).

Malika would have celebrated her 44th birthday this October. Last year, M. Betiyeva was a runner-up at the annual Andrei Sakharov competition "Journalism as an Act of Conscience".

We have launched an independent investigation into the circumstances of this fatal road accident.


FAMOUS JOURNALIST & ALL HER FAMILY DIE IN ROAD ACCIDENT

Kavkazsky uzel website, 1 August 2010

Malika Betiyeva, a journalist famous in Chechnya, and four members of her family died today as the result of a road accident on the main route from Grozny to Shatoi.

“Near the village of Starye Atagi two foreign-made cars collided. The five people in the Nissan were all killed. Two of those in the jeep were taken to hospital,” said a spokesman for Chechnya’s law-enforcement agencies.

Among the dead were 44-year-old Betiyeva, chief editor of Chechnya’s Molodaya smena youth newspaper, her husband Askhab and their two teenage sons. Her husband’s sister was also with them in the car.

A team of investigators is working at the site to determine how the accident occurred, reports the RIA Novosti news agency.


BETIYEVA AND HER FAMILY BURIED IN CHIRI-YURT

Dosh magazine, 1 August 2010

An hour ago, before sunset, five people were buried in Chiri-Yurt, a village in the Shali district of Chechnya. The road accident that ended the lives of our correspondent Malika Betiyeva and members of her family took place today, on the road between the villages of Starye Atagi and Chiri-Yurt.

Malika and her family were on their way to the graveyard in Chiri-Yurt in order to tidy up her mother-in-law’s grave before the beginning of Ramadan. A tragic combination of circumstances meant that this proved their last journey.

They were driving in their right-hand drive Nissan on the road to Chiri-Yurt when a Kamaz truck created an obstruction and, as a result, a very fast-moving Lexus jeep crashed into their car. The force of the collision was so great that the Nissan was turned into a heap of metal and its driver and passengers were instantly killed. Two passengers in the Lexus were also seriously injured.

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MALIKA BETIYEVA, A FINALIST IN THE SAKHAROV AWARD

Malika Betiyeva from Chechnya was one of the runners-up at the 2009 Sakharov Award in Moscow. Unlike many who invoke the name of Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), the sponsor and organisers of this annual prize secured the support and approval of Yelena Bonner, the Nobel Peace Price winner's widow, before it was first awarded on 10 December, UN Human Rights Day, in 2001.

The prize goes to the Russian reporter or editor whose work best exemplifies "journalism as an act of conscience" (see 2007 collection of same title in English, published by GDF). The winning journalist is chosen from a short-list of five candidates.