[JURIST] Two Tajikistani men have admitted to killing Russian journalist Ilyas Shurpayev [personal blog], Tajikistani Interior Ministry officials said Monday. Shurpayev, a correspondent for Russia's state-run Channel One [media website, in Russian], was found dead [JURIST report] in his Moscow apartment earlier this month with stab wounds and a belt around his neck when firefighters responded to a fire, apparently set after the attack. The two suspects have reportedly said they to killed Shurpayev during a robbery. It was not clear if the two would be extradited to Russia. AP has more.

Hours before his death, Shurpayev reportedly made a blog post complaining that he had been banned from writing columns for a newspaper in the violence-plagued southern Russian territory of Dagestan and saying "I am now a dissident." Over a dozen reporters have been killed in Russia since 2000, many in apparent retaliation for reporting on alleged corruption or human rights violations. Late last week, Russian prosecutors said they were still actively searching [Moscow Times report] for a person said responsible for the October 2006 slaying of Anna Politkovskaja [JURIST news archive], who reported on human rights abuses in the neighboring region of Chechnya.