(BRUSSELS) - The European Union joined Thursday a growing chorus of calls for an investigation into the death of Russian Internet journalist Magomed Yevloyev while in police custody.

The European Union "calls upon the Russian authorities to shed all possible light on this affair," said a statement prepared by France, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"The European Union reiterates the importance which it attaches to the freedom of the press and emphasises its concern over the fresh outbreak of violence in the Northern Caucasus."

Yevloyev, a prominent opponent of the pro-Kremlin president of Ingushetia -- a mostly Muslim region bordering Chechnya -- died Sunday after being shot in the head in a police car in the Ingush city of Nazran.

Prosecutors have opened a preliminary manslaughter investigation into his death.

Yevloyev ran the website ingushetiya.ru, a major source of information in the region, which Russian authorities ordered shut down in June for disseminating "extremist" views.

Media reports said he was arrested at gunpoint after his arrival in Nazran.

Ingushetia has been grappling with mounting security problems.

While major combat operations against separatist rebels in neighbouring Chechnya have ceased, Ingushetia and other nearby provinces remain plagued by shoot-outs between Russian security services and local rebel groups.

The EU call comes two days after the United States demanded a probe.

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