A police officer jailed in the death of prominent Ingush opposition journalist Magomed Yevloyev has been released after serving three months of a two-year sentence.

Police officer Ibragim Yevloyev was released Tuesday in what the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists called a dangerous court decision that could lead to more violence against reporters.

The court last year found Magomed Yevloyev, a former chief bodyguard to Zyazikov's interior minister, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the August 2008 death, but on Tuesday it released him on probation. The reporter and his killer are not related.

(Reuters)