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).

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.