The severity of the injuries suffered in the assault, which involved a notable female Russian journalist and a lawyer, led Russia to start a criminal probe into it. The assault was carried out by masked individuals in Chechnya.
Yelena Milashina, a journalist for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was attacked on Tuesday by armed men wearing masks. According to Milashina’s employer and rights organizations, she was in Chechnya with attorney Alexander Nemov when they were ambushed while driving from the airport. Milashina and Nemov had organized plans to be present at a legal hearing concerning a woman whom they suspected was being unfairly singled out due to political motivations.
However, they were unable to attend due to the attack. During the assault, their attackers held pistols to their heads, shaved Milashina’s head, bathed her in green dye, and wounded Nemov in the leg. As a result, they were flown back to Moscow for medical attention. Meanwhile, the Kremlin urged the authorities in Ramzan Kadyrov’s Chechnya, a southern territory with a majority Muslim population and a close friend of President Vladimir Putin, to investigate the incident.
In response, the Russian Investigative Committee, equivalent to the FBI in the United States, announced in a statement on Wednesday that criminal charges had been initiated in Chechnya. The committee declared that a team of investigators is presently involved in multiple investigative and search activities aimed at determining the individuals responsible for the crime and comprehending all the details surrounding the incident.
According to Novaya Gazeta, Milashina was examined in a Moscow facility where it was determined that she had various soft tissue contusions, up to 14 hand bone fractures, and a closed craniocerebral injury. The newspaper included images of Milashina showing her hands wrapped in bandages, extensive bruising on her arms, a black eye, injuries to her face and skull, scars, and exposed sores on the upper part of her back.
Milashina has dedicated years to investigating alleged human rights violations in Chechnya, including the widespread detention and torture of gay men. Consequently, she has faced numerous threats, including threats to her life.
‘Killed missing person’ conducts press conference to show he is alive and not missing
In 2022, Milashina was evacuated from Russia after Kadyrov labeled her a terrorist in a social media post, and she was previously abused in Chechnya in 2020. Novaya Gazeta, once one of Russia’s few independent news sites, had its license revoked by the government last year.
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