Journalist and a lawyer badly hurt in 'brutal attack' in Russia’s Chechnya

Unidentified masked assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya have attacked and beaten a journalist and a lawyer. (Photo/AFP)

Masked assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya have attacked and brutally beaten a prominent investigative reporter and a lawyer.

Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov arrived in Chechnya on Tuesday to attend the trial of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of two activists who have challenged Chechen authorities.

Just outside the airport, their vehicle was blocked by several cars and they were attacked by several unidentified masked assailants who beat them with clubs, put guns to their heads and broke their equipment.

Novaya Gazeta said that Milashina sustained a brain injury and had several fingers broken, and Nemov had a deep cut on his leg. They were taken to a hospital in Chechnya's main city, Grozny, and later to Beslan in the nearby region of North Ossetia. The newspaper said that Milashina repeatedly lost consciousness.

Speaking from a hospital bed in a video, Milashina said the attack looked like a “classic abduction.”

“They threw the driver out of the car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, forced me down to my knees and put a gun to my head,” she said, adding that the assailants were visibly nervous and had trouble tying her hands.

Officials were considering their medical evacuation to Moscow.

“Monstrous assault”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the incident. Peskov added that “it was a very serious assault that warrants energetic measures” from law enforcement agencies.

Russian human rights ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova asked investigators to look into the attack on Milashina and Nemov.

The Russian Ministry for Digital Development and Mass Communications denounced the “monstrous assault” on Milashina and Nemov and said it will offer them the necessary assistance. The ministry added that it urged law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the attack and punish the perpetrators.

Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, the country’s top state criminal investigation agency, ordered a probe into the attack.

Ongoing threat by Chechen authorities

Milashina has long exposed human rights violations in Chechnya and has faced threats, intimidation and attacks. In 2020, Milashina and a lawyer accompanying her were beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel. Last year, she temporarily left Russia after she was threatened by Chechen authorities.

She has won a broad acclaim for her investigative reporting, which included exposing the torture, killings and other abuses by feared Chechen paramilitary forces.

In 2013, Milashina received an International Women of Courage Award from the US Department of State.

Musayeva sentenced prison

Hours after Tuesday's attack on Milashina and Nemov, a court in Grozny sentenced Zarema Musayeva, to five and a half years in prison on charges of insulting and violently resisting police, an accusation that rights groups have rejected as trumped-up.

Musayeva had been in custody in Grozny since Chechen security forces grabbed her from her home in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod and drove her to Chechnya in January 2022.

Her husband, a former judge, and her two activist sons have left Chechnya.

Chechnya's strongman regional leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has accused the Musayev family of having terrorist links and said that they should be imprisoned or killed.

Following the verdict, Abubakar Yangulbaev was quoted by Moscow Times as saying that the sentence was "equal to the death penalty" given the state of his mother's health.

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Source: TRT