A prominent Russian journalist and a lawyer were attacked and seriously injured on Tuesday after several masked men forcibly stopped their car in the Russian region of Chechnya, the journalist’s employer and rights groups said in statements.
Yelena MilashinaA well-known journalist from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which has lost its license in Russia, was traveling from the local airport to the Chechen capital Grozny with a lawyer, Alexander Nemov, when he was attacked.
Milashina and Nemov, who had planned to attend a court hearing later on Tuesday, are now in a hospital in Grozny.
There was no immediate comment from officials in Chechnya.
Milashina faced brutal beating
Reportedly, the attackers shaved Milashina’s head, broke several of her fingers, and covered her head with green paint. human rights group Memorial, which stated that she had lost consciousness several times.
“He was brutally kicked, also punched in the face, threatened with death, a gun was held to his head and his equipment snatched and smashed,” the memorial said in a statement on Telegram.
“While being beaten he was told: “You have been warned. Go away from here and don’t write anything”.
A photo of Milashina posted on social media shows her sitting on a hospital bed with her face covered in green paint, her head shaved and her left arm and right arm bandaged.
The rights group “Team Against Torture” said Nemov had been stabbed in the leg.
It added that their attackers had made it clear that the two were being punished for their activism and reporting.
Milashina and Nemov were in Chechnya to cover the court-ordered sentencing of Zarema Musayeva, a Chechen woman accused of assaulting a policeman.
last year a Russian court snatched novaya gazetaLed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, its media license was a politically motivated move by Muratov.