The International Press Institute (IPI) today mourned the passing away of Russian journalist Mikhail Beketov and called on authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the vicious 2008 beating that led to his death on Monday.

News reports said that scarring in Beketov’s throat from treatment following the attack – which took his ability to speak in sentences, one of his legs and four fingers – caused him to choke on his food, leading to heart failure.

IPI Executive Board Chair Galina Sidorova, who also heads the Foundation for Investigative Journalism – Foundation 19/29, Russia, said: “Our thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Mikhail Beketov. It is absolutely clear that his death occurred as a consequence of the vicious beating he suffered. We urge the government to renew efforts to hold those behind this brutal crime – who have now become killers – accountable, and to end the scourge of impunity that has surrounded virtually every one of the numerous attacks on journalists in Russia in recent years.”

The November 2008 attack on Beketov, who was 55 at the time of his death, is widely believed to be related to his coverage of the fight by environmental activists to stop construction of a highway that would pass through a protected forest in Khimki, outside Moscow. Unknown assailants severely beat Beketov – who linked the project to local corruption and wrote about its environmental impact in the newspaper he founded, Khimkinskaya Pravda – outside of his home and left him for dead.

The attack left Beketov comatose for months and he spent some two years in hospital. His treatment at one point required the insertion of a tube into his trachea, reportedly causing the scars that led to his death.

However, the New York Times reported that Yevgenia Chirikova, an environmental activist from Khimki, said of the attack: “In essence, they killed him back then…. He was just dying all these years. That’s all.”

Prior to the beating, unknown assailants reportedly left Beketov’s dog dead on his doorstep. His car was also set ablaze in 2007 in an attack Beketov attributed to Vladimir Strelchenko, then-mayor of Khimki, who responded with a criminal defamation charge. A court found Beketov guilty in a ruling that drew widespread condemnation before it was overturned in December 2010.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in January 2012 gave Beketov an award for journalism and promised to push the investigation forward. However, the identities of those behind the attack remain unknown. According to the New York Times: “The police barely investigated the crime, ignoring witnesses who came forward offering information and surveillance videos that could have identified Mr. Beketov’s assailants.”