Beaten female Russian journalist moved to Moscow hospital
A Russian investigative journalist and a lawyer who were beaten in the southern republic of Chechnya have been moved to a hospital in Moscow, one of the country’s most prominent journalists said on Wednesday.
Yelena Milashina, a well-known journalist for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was travelling to the Chechen capital, Grozny, from the local airport with Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, when they were attacked a day earlier.
The two were beaten, and threatened with guns while Milashina had her head shaved and green dye thrown over her.
Alexei Venediktov, the former head of the closed Ekho Moskvy radio station, said in a message on Telegram that the two were now in a Moscow hospital.
A photograph of Milashina, whose newspaper was stripped of its licence in Russia last year, showed her sitting on a hospital bed with her face covered in green dye thrown over her by her attackers, her head shaved by her assailants, and bandages on her left arm and right hand amid reports that several of her fingers had been broken.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been informed about what it called “a very serious attack” which it said had to be investigated and followed by “energetic measures”.
Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Putin, wrote on Telegram: “We’ll sort it out. I have instructed the competent services to make every effort to identify the attackers.”
But Soltayev, the Chechen rights official, was cited by the RIA news agency as calling the attack “a provocation” against the Chechen authorities.
Some Russian lawmakers and officials in Moscow condemned the attack and demanded an investigation. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, said those responsible must be punished. –Reuters
