Masked gunmen attacked and injured a Russian journalist and a lawyer in Chechnya after forcing them to stop their car. reported the Russian human rights organization Team Against Torture on Tuesday. They both have serious injuries.
Elena Milashina, who works for “Novaya Gazeta”, traveled from the local airport to the Chechen capital Grozny together with the lawyer Alexander Nemov.
They intended to attend a hearing in a case against Zarema Musaeva, who, according to them, was unjustly accused for political reasons.
The attack took place on the morning of July 4, while the journalist and lawyer’s car was moving from Grozny airport to the court building.
Classic kidnapping
The two have been hospitalized in a neighboring region and are expected to be sent to Moscow for further treatment.
“It was a classic kidnapping. They pinned down our driver, threw him out of the car, pushed our heads down, tied my hands, made me kneel and pointed a gun at my head.”Milashina told Mansur Soltaev, the ombudsman of Chechnya, who visited her in the hospital in Grozny before she was transferred to another medical facility, the agency reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The banned in Russia human rights organization “Memorial” said that Milashina and Nemov were “severely kicked, including in the face, and threatened with death, firearms were held to their heads, and their equipment was broken”. During the beating, the attackers said: “You have been warned. Get out of here and do not write anything”.
V. Novaya Gazeta, whose license in Russia was revoked last year, published a photo of Milashina from her hospital bed. Her face is covered in green paint that was sprayed on her by her attackers, her head is shaved and her fingers on both hands were broken when she refused to unlock her phone at the kidnappers’ insistence.
Elena Milashina and Alexander Nemov were kicked and beaten with polypropylene pipes, including in the face. Nemov also has a stab wound.
“The order was given by Kadyrov, the Kremlin is to blame”
Zarema Musaeva’s son Abubakar Yangulbaev, a former lawyer for the “Team Against Torture”, also believes that Ramzan Kadyrov gave the order for the attack. “On Kadyrov’s order my mother was kidnapped, on his order Milashina was put on her knees, her fingers were broken, her head was shaved, doused with green paint. Nemov was also stabbed with a knife… All this is on Kadyrov’s order,” he assured is the human rights defender.
Oleg Habibrahmanov, the head of the investigation department of the human rights organization “Team Against Torture”, believes that the attackers’ target was mainly Elena Milashina, who had previously received threats from Chechnya, including from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, write various Russian media.
The press secretary of “Novaya Gazeta” Nadezhda Pusenkova is also sure that the reason for the attack was the professional activities of Milashina and Nemov. “If you know the creative path and creative biography of Elena Milashina, it is difficult not to notice that she has never been a guest of honor in the Chechen Republic. In addition, she has already been attacked several times. The last attack was also in 2020 in Grozny , when he arrived with a lawyer. Now history is repeating itself.”says Pusenkova.
Previous threats
Earlier, Milashina received threats from the Chechen authorities. Because of them, in February last year, she was forced to temporarily leave Russia. Ramzan Kadyrov, who is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, called Milashina a “terrorist” and accused her of “making money” on the issue of Chechens.
Milashina and Nemov arrived in Chechnya on July 4 for a case in which the sentence of Zarema Musaeva, the wife of Saidi Yangulbaev, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Chechnya, was announced.
Zarema Musaeva’s son Abubakar Yangulbaev, a former lawyer for the “Team Against Torture”, also believes that Ramzan Kadyrov gave the order for the attack. “On Kadyrov’s orders my mother was kidnapped, on his orders Milashina was put on her knees, her fingers were broken, her head was shaved, doused with green paint. Nemov was also stabbed with a knife… All this is on Kadyrov’s orders”the human rights defender is confident.
The perpetrators and guarantors of this attack will not be able to be found, Abubakar Yangulbaev believes. At the same time, he is convinced that the leadership of Russia is responsible for the beating of Milashina and Nemov. “The attacks against Anna Politkovskaya, Nataliya Estemirova, the human rights defenders from “Memorial”, the Committee against Torture (now “Team Against Torture”) and many other journalists, are carried out all the time – by both local and federal authorities”he tells Deutsche Welle.
Kremlin: Putin has been informed, an investigation is needed
According to him, the attacks and murders of journalists and human rights defenders in Chechnya are carried out on the direct orders of the Russian authorities: “There is no Chechen uniqueness in this story. Everyone is acting by order, in concert, at the behest of the Kremlin and Putin. The whole root of evil is in this bunker,” emphasizes the former lawyer of the “Team Against Torture”.
The Kremlin press office said that President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the “very serious attack” which should be investigated and “vigorous measures” should follow.
There is currently no comment from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is a close ally of Putin.
Soltaev defined the attack as a “provocation” against the Chechen authorities.
