Irek Minzakievich Murtazin (Tatar: Ирек Мортазин, romanized: İrek Mortazin: Russian: Ирек Минзакиевич Муртазин; born 5 April 1964, Bogatye Saby) is a Russian journalist and blogger of Tatar descent, specialist of the International Institute of Research in Policy and the Humanities in Moscow ^[1] and, since September 2008, publisher of the newspaper Kazan News (Russian: Казанские вести).

In September 2008, he posted information to his blog to the effect that Tatar president Shaimiev had died; this information proved to be false. As a result, he was the subject of a criminal investigation into the matter. On 26 November 2009, Murtazin was found guilty of libel and "instigating hatred and hostility" to an ethnic or social group and sentenced to 1 year, 9 months of hard labor.^[2][3] Murtazin had previously clashed with local and federal elites in his journalistic work; he resigned his post at "Tatarstan" on 14 November 2003 in the wake of a controversial segment in which program participants criticized Tatar policies and the war in Chechnya.^[4] In December 2008, he was attacked and beaten near his Kazan apartment by unidentified persons.^[5]

In addition to his work as a newspaper and television journalist, Murtazin has published several monographs.

• The Last Romantic (Russian: Последний романтик)
• The Death of a Television Magnate (Russian: Смерть телемагната)
• The Island of Tatarstan (Russian: Остров Татарстан)
• Mintimer Shaimiev: Last President of Tatarstan (Russian: Минтимер Шаймиев: последний президент Татарстана) (Cheboksary, 2007)

• Murtazin's LiveJournal, where the information on Shaimiev's alleged death was first posted, and which is now being used to support Murtazin during his imprisonment.