Moscow opens probe into brutal Chechnya attack on activists
Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) announced on Wednesday that it had opened a federal criminal investigation into the brutal attack on journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Aleksandr Nemov in Chechnya.
The head of IC for Chechnya Vitaly Volkov confirmed that the agency is looking into violations of Article 112 and Article 115 of the Russian criminal code – the deliberate infliction of light and medium bodily harm – and seeking to identify and apprehend the suspects in Tuesday morning’s incident.
Milashina and Nemov were driving from Grozny airport to the Chechen capital to attend a high-profile trial, when their vehicle was stopped by three cars. About 10-15 men reportedly exited the cars, dragged the two to the side of the road, and beat them.
The assailants reportedly shaved Milashina’s head, poured green antiseptic dye over her and broke several of her fingers while Nemov was wounded in the leg with a knife, according to North Ossetian human rights commissioner, Tamerlan Tsogoev.
Nemov and Milashina were initially taken to a hospital in nearby North Ossetia, due to fears that they might not be safe in Chechnya. The region's human rights commissioner, Mansur Soltaev, personally escorted their ambulance across the border to the clinic.
Milashina was eventually transported to a Moscow hospital where doctors diagnosed her with concussion and a traumatic brain injury, blunt trauma and bruising of the chest, a stab wound on the left hand, four fractured bones in the left wrist, two fractured fingers on the right hand, multiple bruises on the head and face, as well as abrasions on the torso, arms and legs, according to the Telegram channel Baza.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Tuesday’s incident as a “serious assault, which demands quite vigorous measures.” A senior MP on the State Duma information policy committee also called it “an outlandish and unacceptable act.”
Local and federal authorities have not found any of the attackers as of yet. Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has told reporters the republic will “sort things out.”
Milashina is a veteran correspondent covering human rights issues in Chechnya for Novaya Gazeta, a liberal outlet designated by Russia as foreign agent last year. Kadyrov has previously denounced the outlet and Milashina personally as “abettors of terrorism.”
Nemov and Milashina were on the way to court to cover the trial of Zarema Musaeva, the wife of retired federal judge Saidi Yangulbayev, on charges of fraud and assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest. Several of Yangulbayev’s relatives are vocal critics of Kadyrov and have accused the head of Chechnya of persecuting Musaeva in retaliation. She was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
