Several thousand mourners turned out in Azerbaijan on Friday to bury a murdered investigative journalist and an opposition leader gave the oil-rich country's dynastic ruler two weeks to find his killers or resign. Elmar Huseinov, a 38-year-old magazine editor and outspoken critic of the elite was shot dead on Wednesday, prompting public outrage and giving a rallying point to the fractured opposition.
One opposition leader drew parallels with Ukraine, another former Soviet republic, where the killing of an investigative reporter in 2000 helped stir opposition that eventually led to a new government which has now arrested policemen for the murder.
"All those in power are frightened by today's events, they are afraid their end is near," said Ali Kerimli, leader of the National Front, at the ceremony in the capital Baku as mourners filed past Huseinov's flag-draped casket to pay their respects.
His wounds meant the casket was, unusually, kept closed.
"In Ukraine people had the courage to find the killers," Kerimli said. "Two weeks are enough for this ... regime to find Elmar's killers. They should either find the killers or resign and we will find them ourselves."
The opposition declared the funeral a protest at the rule of President Ilham Aliyev, 43, who succeeded his late father Heidar in a disputed 2003 election. Some 3,000 followed the coffin, largely in silence. Police kept out of sight along the route.
In just over a year, street protests have toppled rulers in neighbouring Georgia and in Ukraine, prompting speculation that other leaders in the former Soviet Union, stretching from the edge of the European Union to Central Asia, might be shaky.
But past revolts in Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim republic of eight million on the Caspian Sea, have fizzled out.
Several opposition leaders have been in jail since riots following the younger Aliyev's election and those that remain lack broad support and squabble among themselves.
A protest rally has been scheduled for March 9.
No one has been arrested for Huseinov's killing. The government has promised a full investigation while the US embassy said an FBI agent was on his way to help.
Huseinov's magazine, Monitor, has been blunt in criticism of the Aliyevs though it is also scathing about their opponents.
It had been driven underground several times and Huseinov racked up large sums in fines for defaming officials. He was jailed for six months over a story that alleged Baku's mayor took bribes. But recently official pressure on him had eased.
US ambassador Reno Harnish, addressing mourners around the coffin, called Huseinov's murder a "national tragedy":
"He cared passionately about his country and he wanted to see it free and open and democratic ... Dedicated individuals need to be safeguarded like the precious resources that they are," Harnish said.
Aside from a brief interlude in the 1990s, the Aliyevs have ruled Azerbaijan since 1969, when the Kremlin appointed Heidar Aliyev leader of the local Communist party.
Half the population lives in poverty and corruption is rampant. Income from offshore oil production, a tight rein on the media and opposition activities, and widespread respect for the elder Aliyev have helped keep a lid on discontent.
Some insiders say, though, that there are bitter power struggles between cliques within the ruling elite.
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