16 April 2010
Grigorijs Nemcovs
Shooting
Media owner Grigorijs Nemcovs was the victim of an apparent contract killing in Daugavpils, the largest city in the southeastern region of Latgale.
Publisher of the regional newspaper Million and owner of a local TV station of the same name, Nemcovs was shot twice in the head at close range when he went to a meeting in a café. The murder, appeared to have been carefully planned and executed. The gunman seems to have been following Nemcovs when he arrived at a café on Lacplesa Street near the University of Daugavpils. Founded by Nemcovs in 1995 and now Latvia’s biggest regional Russian-language newspaper, Million is renowned for its investigative coverage of political and local government corruption and mismanagement. Nemcovs was also an activist and deputy mayor of Daugavpils whose support played a major role in the success of the civil society movement Latgales Tauta (Nation of Latgale).
Death threats were made against Nemcovs in 2007 and his house was burned down. The arsonists were never identified. He was also physically attacked in 2000 by unidentified assailants who took his passport.The police have not yet identified any suspects for his murder.
