NAZRAN, Ingushetia -- Federal arrest warrants have been issued for three brothers of Ingush opposition activist Magomed Khazbiyev, RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service reports.
The three serve as Khazbiyev's bodyguards.
Kaloy Akhilgov, Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov's press spokesman, has identified the brothers as being among five men who allegedly beat him up the spokesman in February in Nazran.
Khazbiyev was summoned by police in early March for questioning about the incident at Akhilgov's request.
Khazbiyev told the website Caucasian Knot on April 1 that his brothers -- Ali, Makhmud, and Berd -- had nothing to do with the attack on Akhilgov. He expressed fear that without his bodyguards, his life would be in danger.
Two prominent Ingush public figures -- Magomed Yevloyev and Maksharip Aushev -- have been murdered in the last two years.
Khazbiyev said that initially his relations with Yevkurov were good, but they deteriorated after Yevkurov failed to keep his pledge to end the unannounced punitive raids that he said are made by the republic's security services.
The three serve as Khazbiyev's bodyguards.
Kaloy Akhilgov, Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov's press spokesman, has identified the brothers as being among five men who allegedly beat him up the spokesman in February in Nazran.
Khazbiyev was summoned by police in early March for questioning about the incident at Akhilgov's request.
Khazbiyev told the website Caucasian Knot on April 1 that his brothers -- Ali, Makhmud, and Berd -- had nothing to do with the attack on Akhilgov. He expressed fear that without his bodyguards, his life would be in danger.
Two prominent Ingush public figures -- Magomed Yevloyev and Maksharip Aushev -- have been murdered in the last two years.
Khazbiyev said that initially his relations with Yevkurov were good, but they deteriorated after Yevkurov failed to keep his pledge to end the unannounced punitive raids that he said are made by the republic's security services.
