22:07, 11 February 2020

Attack on rights defenders in Chechnya is consequence of Kadyrov's threats

Ramzan Kadyrov. Photo: REUTERS/Said Tsarnayev

Publications of Chechen media approving the beating up Elena Milashina and Marina Dubrovina indicate that the attack had to do with Ramzan Kadyrov's call to crack down on authors of gossips about Chechnya, human rights defenders believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 6, in a Grozny hotel, a group of men and women attacked Elena Milashina, a columnist for the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper, and Marina Dubrovina, an advocate. The attack had to do with their work, rights defenders have suggested.

Ms Milashina believes that she and Dubrovina were attacked because they had attended the trial of Islam Nukhanov, who filmed a video about the luxurious life of Chechen officials. After torture, the 27-year-old Nukhanov was accused of storing cartridges. His wife also complained about threats in social networks.

The beating of Milashina and Dubrovina is connected with Kadyrov words addressed to critics in November 2019, Oleg Orlov, a board member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", is convinced.

On November 4, 2019, Kadyrov demanded "to kill, imprison and intimidate" authors of negative materials about the republic and those social network users, who comment on these materials.

Igor Kalyapin, the chairman of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT), has also linked the attack on Milashina and Dubrovina with the threats pronounced by the head of Chechnya. He is sure that Chechen media made videos with the viewpoints of "ordinary people" on authorities' orders, who approve such attacks.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 11, 2020 at 06:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Oleg Krasnov

Source: CK correspondent