Chechen human rights ombudsman calls attack on journalist and lawyer "a diversion"

Chechen Human Rights Ombudsman Mansur Soltayev has called the attack on Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov in Grozny a "diversion and provocation".

Source: Russian media outlet RBC, citing a statement by Soltayev

Quote: "It was a bold, subversive provocation against the republic. I think the internal affairs bodies will sort it out; we will monitor the situation."

Details: Soltayev said Milashina had been fully examined and "everything is fine".

Background:

• In Chechnya, unidentified masked men attacked and brutally beat Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov. According to the head of the human rights organisation Team Against Torture, who is with Milashina and Nemov, the lawyer is "in a wheelchair" after the beating, while Milashina "cannot even sit up".
• The Novaya Gazeta journalist and the lawyer had flown to Grozny to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva. Musayeva is the mother of Ibragim Yangulbayev, one of the alleged founders of the Chechen opposition movement Adat. She was abducted by Chechen security forces in January 2022. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has alleged that during the transfer, Musayeva supposedly "attacked a police officer and almost took his eye out".

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