An award-winning Russian investigative journalist from Novaya Gazeta and a lawyer were badly beaten by armed men during a trip to Chechnya, the human rights group Team Against Torture reported on July 4.
Journalist Yelena Milashina and lawyer Aleksandr Nemov have been moved to a hospital in Moscow, the Novaya Gazeta publication reported on Telegram on July 5. They sustained multiple injuries, the rights group reported.
"Milashina's fingers have been broken, and she is sometimes losing consciousness. She has bruises all over her body," the group said on social media. It added that Nemov had been stabbed in the leg.
"It was a classic kidnapping.... They pinned our driver down, threw him out of his car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, knelt me down there, and put a gun to my head," Milashina told Mansur Soltayev, a Chechen human rights official, as she lay in a hospital in Grozny shortly after the attack.
Milashina and Nemov had traveled to Chechnya to attend the sentencing by a court 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 from Chechen authorities over their online criticism of Kremlin-backed Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov.
SEE ALSO: 'It's All Lies': Supporters Say Petty Politics Lies Behind Treason Conviction Of Ailing Russian ScientistKadyrov, other Chechen officials, and a member of the Russian Duma have publicly vowed to kill all members of the Yangulbayev family, calling them "terrorists."
Musayeva has been put on trial for fraud and assaulting a law enforcement officer, charges that critics call politically motivated. Hours after the attack against Milashina and Nemov, a Chechen court found Musayeva guilty and sentenced her to 5 1/2 years at a penal colony.
Milashina and Nemov were attacked while heading from the airport to the capital, Grozny, rights groups said, adding that their equipment and documents were destroyed.
Milashina has spent years reporting on human rights violations in Chechnya, including the arrest and torture of gay men in the region. She had received threats before. In 2020, Milashina and a lawyer accompanying her were beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel.
The human rights group Memorial said the attackers shaved Milashina's head, broke several of her fingers, and covered her head with green dye.
"They were brutally kicked, including in the face, threatened with death, had a gun held to their heads, and had their equipment taken away and smashed," Memorial said in a post on Telegram.
SEE ALSO: Woman Fleeing Domestic Violence Missing After Being Forcibly Returned To Chechnya"While being beaten, they were told: "You have been warned. Get out of here and don't write anything."
Russian and international human rights groups have for years accused Kadyrov of overseeing grave human rights abuses, including abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and the persecution of the LGBT community.
Kremlin critics say Vladimir Putin has turned a blind eye to the abuses because he relies on the former rebel commander to control separatist sentiment and violence in Chechnya.
Russian human rights ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova asked investigators to look into the attack on Milashina and Nemov.
The Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders said on Twitter it was "horrified by the savage attack" on Milashina.
Milashina's paper, Novaza Gazeta, was last year stripped of its license in a move that its editor, Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov, said was politically motivated.
Novaya Gazeta, known for its investigative reports, has since 2000 seen six journalists and contributors killed, including investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.