Prominent Russian journalist and lawyer ‘brutally’ attacked in Chechnya

A prominent Russian journalist and a lawyer were attacked by armed masked men in the Russian region of Chechnya, early Tuesday (July 4), said the journalist’s employer and rights groups. At the time of the attack, Yelena Milashina, accompanied by a lawyer, was travelling to the Chechen capital Grozny from the local airport to attend a court hearing in the morning when theircar was forced to stop.

What do we know about the incident?

The attack occurred when Yelena Milashina, an award-winning Russian investigative journalist working for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was travelling to the Chechen capital city along with Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, for a court hearing from the local airport.

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The court hearing was reportedly related to a case of a woman who they believe was being unjustly persecuted. According to the Russian journalist’s employer, Novaya Gazeta, which is said to be a prominent independent publication in Moscow, Milashina and Nemov are in a hospital in Grozny.

“It was a classic kidnapping...They pinned (our driver) down, threw him out of his car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, knelt me down there, and put a gun to my head,” Milashina told Mansur Soltayev, a Chechen human rights official, in a hospital at Grozny, as quoted by Reuters.

Memorial, a human rights group, which is banned in Russia, released a statement on Telegram and said that Milashina and Nemov were “brutally kicked, including in the face, received death threats and were threatened with a gun to the head.”

It added, “Their equipment was taken away and smashed. While being beaten, they were told: ‘You have been warned. Get out of here and don’t write anything’”.

What was the court hearing in Grozny about?

The Russian media outlet saidthat the duo were on their way to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva who is the mother of three exiles who had been critical of the Head of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. Musayeva was detained by Chechen forces in Januarylast year.

Musayeva, a Chechen woman was charged with assaulting a policeman and fraud. She has denied the charges. Meanwhile, critics have called it a case of revenge against her sons and husband who have since fled the country. The court found Musayeva guilty and sentenced her to five-and-a-half years in a penal colony.

The condition of the victims

Describing the victims’ injuries, the Memorial said, “Milashina’s fingers have been broken and “she is sometimes losing consciousness,” adding “She has bruises all over her body.”

The image of the Russian journalist released by the Committee Against Torture shows Milashina sitting on a hospital bed with her face covered in green dye, presumably thrown by the attackers, and her head shaven, also by the armed men.

Additionally, her left arm was covered in bandages while several of her fingers had been broken, as per reports. According to “Team against Torture”, Nemov was stabbed in the leg and cited the lawyer to claim that the masked attackers had used three cars to block their vehicle.

The Russian journalist and lawyer were taken to a hospital in the Chechen capital and are expected to be flown to Moscow for further treatment.

How has Russia reacted to the attack?

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday, told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed about what he called a “very serious attack” which will be investigated and followed by “energetic measures".

Notably, Milashina was also forced to leave Russia temporarilylast year in February after receiving death threats from the Chechen leadership, said the Novaya Gazeta, whose licence was also revoked last year. Additionally, the Russian journalist had also been called a terrorist in a social media post by Kadyrov which prompted her employer to evacuate her from the country.

Milashina has been covering rights abuses in Chechnya for the Russian publication for years now, which Kadyrov has denied.

(With inputs from agencies)

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