A high-profile event today is the attack and brutal beating in Grozny of journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov. They were driving from the airport to the court in the case of Zarema Musayeva, who was sentenced today.
The Memorial Center said that this action was the responsibility not only of Kadyrov, but also of Putin. “Attacks on journalists and human rights activists are nothing new in Chechnya: there have already been beatings, murders, pogroms, arson, arrests and fabricated cases. But these crimes should not be attributed to the "savagery of local customs." Memorial has no doubt that “the attack on Milashina and Nemov was carried out by agents of the authorities in order to exclude their presence at the trial of Zarema Musayeva, and, more broadly, to intimidate the journalistic, lawyers and human rights communities. There is no doubt that the authorities of Moscow and Grozny are united in their actions. Last week, the former declared Novaya Gazeta Evropa “undesirable”, while the latter prepared an attack on the journalist. The former pass more and more repressive laws, destroying the remnants of the legal system in Russia, the latter organize an attack on a lawyer. But both are parts of the same policy,” human rights activists noted.
The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Moskalkova, sent an appeal to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya. According to her, the departments "will conduct an audit."
Ombudsman of Chechnya Soltaev, who accompanied Elena Milashina and Alexander Nemov, who were being taken out of Chechnya to North Ossetia, called the incident a diversion and a provocation against the republic. Oddly enough, Valery Fadeev, head of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, as well as senators and deputies, announced their readiness to send a similar request to law enforcement agencies. The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Bastrykin, instructed the head of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for Chechnya, Volkov V.G., to conduct an audit on this fact.
“Attacks on journalists, regardless of their position, are criminal and unacceptable,” said Alexander Khinshtein, head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. And Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, noted that this attack in Chechnya requires a tough response from law enforcement agencies.
The attack was reported to Vladimir Putin, his spokesman Peskov said. According to him, “we are talking about a very serious attack”, verification and “implementation of investigative actions” are required.
The Ministry of Digital Development also supported Milashina and Nemov. It called on "the entire media industry to show solidarity with colleagues in a difficult situation for them, assuring that the department itself" will provide the necessary support to the victims: legal, informational, financial." “A journalist, while doing his job, should not be subjected to persecution and torture. We hope that this case will be thoroughly investigated and those responsible will be punished. Appropriate appeals were sent to law enforcement agencies,” the ministry said.
“We hope that law enforcement agencies will take all necessary measures to punish the perpetrators,” Vladimir Solovyov, chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia, said in turn.
