A well-known poet, Shamil Zhigkayev, Dean of the Philology Faculty of
the North Ossetian State University of Costa Khetagurov, has been
killed. The police believe that the murder was revenge for some of his
verse, 15th region reports.
Zhigkayev was found stabbed with his head cut off on a road at Redant
village, not far from Vladikavkaz. The weapon was not found.
A criminal case was initiated for murder.
Zhigkayev was heading the faculty since 2002. He was a member of the
commission for preservation and development of the Ossetian language.
He was the author of the program for the Ossetian language and culture
and a well-known writer and public figure.
He also wrote a verse containing criticism of Muslims, Kommersant reports.
The verse was devoted to the pilgrims from Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Several buses with pilgrims having a Hajj in 2008 stopped at the
memorial to the terrorist attack at the Beslan school N1 "City of
Angels". The pilgrims said that they stopped for prayer. Yet, the
police of Pravoberezhsk say that they stopped to relieve themselves.
The local youth told them to leave and started throwing rocks,
breaking a bus window. The Chechen Muslim Administration said that
their pilgrims had been attacked during the prayers.
Zhigkayev published a verse on Ossetian in the Makh Dug magazine in a
month. Muslims were offended by the verse, demanding a trial for
augmentation of inter-ethnic tensions. An FSB expertise did not find
any calls for inter-ethnic tensions.
The dean started complaining that had been threatened with beheading.
The North Ossetian Muslim Administration does not believe that the
verse is the main reason for the murder. North Ossetian Leader
Taymuraz Mamsurov ordered all measures to be taken to solve the case.
His message underlines that Shamil Zhigkayev was not just a citizen of
the republic, but was also a respected and talented man, a real
people's poet.
