Russian journalist Elena Milachina of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has been hospitalized after being violently beaten in Chechnya, the Russian human rights non-governmental organization Memorial reported on Tuesday.
Elena Milachina was attacked after traveling to the Caucasus Republic to cover the verdict in the trial of Zarema Moussaieva, the wife of a judge of Chechen origin.
“Elena Milachina has broken fingers and sometimes loses consciousness,” the non-governmental organization (NGO) said in a statement released today, adding that “the journalist’s body is covered in bruises.”
The vehicle in which the journalist and the lawyer from the newspaper Alexander Nemov were traveling was attacked by “armed men” on the way between the airport and the Chechen capital, Grozny.
“They were violently beaten with kicks, including to the face, and threatened with death with a gun pointed at their head,” said Memorial, noting that the journalist received direct death threats.
“We warned you. Get out of here and don’t write anything,” the attackers said at the time of the attack.
The journalist and the lawyer, who “almost does not speak or move”, are hospitalized, says the NGO.
Chechen authorities had already shown animosity towards journalist Elena Milachina who, among other reports, documented extrajudicial killings in Russia’s Caucasus republic.
In February 2022, she was forced to leave Russia after Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov threatened to accuse the journalist of being a “terrorist”.
On Tuesday, the journalist and the lawyer traveled to Grozny to attend the reading of the sentence of Zarema Moussaieva, the wife of the former Russian federal judge of Chechen origin, Saidi Iangoulbaiev, an opponent of Kadyrov.
Zarema Moussaieva was detained in January 2022 in northern Russia by Chechen security forces and forced to return to the Caucasus.
Accused of “fraud” and “use of force” against a police officer, Moussaieva, 53, faces up to five and a half years in prison.
Novaya Gazeta is one of the few independent publications in Russia.
The editor-in-chief, Dmitri Muratov, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.
The newspaper’s interest, specifically in covering human rights violations in Chechnya, cost the lives of several journalists, including Anna Politkovskaia.
Source: TSF
