Russian investigative journalist Elena Milashina has been assaulted, beaten and threatened by masked perpetrators in Chechnya.
“”She was brutally kicked in the face, threatened with death and had a gun pointed at her head,” writes the human rights group Memorial in a statement on Telegram.
The assault, which is most likely described as a kidnapping, is said to have taken place during a business trip in Chechnya.
According to the information, the perpetrators shaved off the journalist’s hair and poured green paint over her. She is also said to have suffered brain damage and broken fingers.
“She was brutally kicked in the face, threatened with death and had a gun pointed at her head. Then they had her equipment taken and smashed,” writes the human rights group Memorial in a statement on Telegram.
Milashina was in Chechnya to cover the trial of a regime critic. Outside the airport, her car was stopped by masked people who assaulted her and stole her equipment.
“You have been warned”
According to the statement, Milashina must also have been threatened by the perpetrators.
“While they were being beaten, they were told: ‘You have been warned. Leave here and write nothing,” writes the human rights group.
Elena Milashina works for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and has long reported on human rights violations in Chechnya.
In 2020, she was beaten in a hotel lobby and last year she left the country after being threatened by Chechen authorities, writes TT.
The authorities in Chechnya have not yet commented on the attack.