Russia: Investigate vicious attack on Elena Milashina and Aleksandr Nemov in Chechnya
Russia: Investigate vicious attack on Elena Milashina and Aleksandr Nemov in Chechnya
Responding to the vicious beating of Elena Milashina, a journalist working with Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, and Aleksandr Nemov, a human rights lawyer, that took place this morning in Chechnya, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“The vicious beating of Elena Milashina and Aleksandr Nemov by masked assailants in Chechnya this morning was an abhorrent act of violence that must not go unpunished. Amnesty International condemns this cowardly assault in the strongest terms and calls on the Russian authorities to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure the safety of those who seek truth and justice.”
“Considering the history of violent attacks against human rights defenders in Chechnya, the direct threats made against Milashina by Chechnya’s leadership, and the fact the masked assailants told Milashina and Nemov that they ‘had been warned’, this callous crime exemplifies the extreme dangers that those who fight injustice and defend human rights face in a context of open hostility from the authorities and total impunity for perpetrators.”
Background
On 4 July, Aleksandr Nemov and Elena Milashina were traveling to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic, to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musaeva. Musaeva was arrested, detained and brought to trial on trumped-up charges by the Chechen authorities over the activities of her children, one of whom is a human rights defender.
According to Memorial Human Rights Centre, three black cars blocked a taxi that was transporting Aleksandr Nemov and Elena Milashina from the airport. Masked assailants dragged both out of the taxi and beat them with truncheons. The men kicked and punched them, struck them in the head and threatened to kill them if they did not stop their human rights work. They also destroyed their reporting equipment and crucial documents.
The assailants broke Milashina’s fingers on both hands while forcing her to unlock her phone. They also stabbed Nemov in his leg.
Musaeva was sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony later that day, following an unfair trial without her lawyer, Nemov, being present.
