Beaten journalists gathered materials on kidnappings and torture in Chechnya

The journalists, who suffered in the attack on the minivan of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG), were on their way to Grozny to collect facts about kidnappings and torture in the republic. In particular, they were interested in the circumstances of the deaths of the two natives of Chechnya, deported from Norway, said the sources of the "Caucasian Knot".

According to a source from Norway, the arrival of journalists in Chechnya had to do with the collection of information about the kidnapping and possibly violent death in Chechnya of two local residents, who had feared for their lives, because of persecution by the authorities, tried to get asylum in Norway. According to his story, less than a year later, they were both found dead; their bodies had traces of torture.

The journalists were checking, jointly with the staff of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), about kidnappings and torture, said Igor Kalyapin the head of the CPT.

He believes that the aim of the attack was to "scare journalists and their bosses."

The attacked journalists were on their way to Chechnya aiming to cover the trial of Ukrainian citizens Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, accused of involvement in warfare fighting in the territory of the republic, said Marina Dubrovina, a defendants' advocate.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.