Magomed Yevloyev, who ran a banned website that had called for protests against the local government, was shot while in a police vehicle and died in hospital on August 31. Police have said he was shot by accident.
The lawyer representing Yevloyev's family, Musa Pliyev, said Wednesday that the Ingush Prosecutor General's Office had charged the head of the interior minister's security service, Ibragim Yevloyev.
"I can confirm that Ibragim Yevloyev, the head of the security service of Ingush Interior Minister Musa Medoyev, was charged with the manslaughter of Magomed Yevloyev," the lawyer said.
"We have no such information and have not received any such reports," a member of the Ingush Interior Ministry press service said.
Pliyev said the official was in the police vehicle when the journalist was killed, but added that "other people contracted the assassination."
According to official information, Magomed Yevloyev, the founder of a banned opposition website, was detained by police at the North Caucasus republic's Magas airport in late August. Officers put him in a police car to take him to Nazran (the republic's largest city) to give testimony regarding "a criminal case."
The vehicle was moving when one of the police officers' guns accidentally went off and a bullet hit Yevloyev in the head.
His killing triggered mass protests in the republic.
Yevloyev's website was initially banned after being labeled extremist. Local authorities said that the website had called on people to take part in unsanctioned demonstrations in January. In late September, the regional center for domain registration took steps to shut down the site. However, the website reopened almost immediately as Ingushetiya.org.
