Russian investigators have opened a criminal probe into an attack on award-winning journalist Yelena Milashina, who was badly beaten in Chechnya on July 4 along with lawyer, Aleksandr Nemov, while the two were on a trip to the Caucasus region.
Milashina, 45, who covers rights abuses in Chechnya for Russia's top independent newspaper, Novaya gazeta, received a brain injury, bruises, and up to 14 fractures in her hands in the beating, Novaya gazeta said on July 5 after she was examined in a Moscow clinic.
Milashina is conscious and in stable condition, Novaya gazeta Europe said, citing doctors. The condition of Nemov, who was stabbed in the leg, has not been reported.
The newspaper released pictures of Milashina showing both her hands bandaged. The attackers also shaved her head and doused green antiseptic on her face and head.
Yelena Milashina sits after receiving medical treatment in Moscow on July 5.
Milashina noted that the attackers grabbed her equipment but didn’t touch cash and other valuables that she and Nemov had with them, leaving her certain that the attack was directly related to their professional work in Chechnya.
She said in a video released by a human rights organization that she heard the attackers tell Nemov that he defends too many people in Chechnya.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that it opened a criminal inquiry into intentional infliction of "moderate" bodily harm and "light" bodily harm.
Official investigations into rights abuses are very rare in Chechnya.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said investigators were carrying out their work and that it would take time for a full probe to be conducted.
Milashina and Nemov had traveled to Chechnya to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva, the jailed mother of three self-exiled outspoken Chechen opposition activists -- Ibragim, Abubakar, and Baisangur Yangulbayev -- all of whom have fled the country, citing harassment by Chechen authorities over their online criticism of Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Kadyrov, other Chechen officials, and a member of the Russian Duma have publicly vowed to kill all members of the Yangulbayev family, calling them "terrorists."
Hours after the attack, Musayeva was found guilty of fraud and assaulting a law enforcement officer and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in a penal colony. Critics called the charges against her politically motivated.
International media advocates, rights groups, and the editor of Novaya gazeta voiced concern for Milashina.
The attackers also shaved Milashina's head and doused her with green antiseptic known as zelyonka.
"Milashina is in Moscow in hospital. Her condition is, frankly, difficult. She was really severely beaten," Dmitry Muratov, the editor in chief of the independent newspaper Novaya gazeta, told AFP.
The journalist said in the video that around 10 to 15 attackers had beaten her with plastic pipes.
She said that authorities routinely used such pipes to attack detainees in Chechnya, and that she had written about the practice before.
"It is a powerful weapon," she said in the video. "It really hurt."
Since 2000, Novaya gazeta has seen six of its journalists and contributors killed.
Muratov, co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, suspended the newspaper’s operations in March 2022 after receiving warnings from state communications regulator Roskomnadzor regarding its coverage of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.