10 February 2020, 22:51
Rights defenders treat attack on Milashina and Dubrovina as part of general campaign
An attack on Elena Milashina and Marina Dubrovina was related to their professional activities, notes human rights defender Oleg Kozlovsky, whose kidnapping in Magas has been under investigation for more than a year. Aggression against journalists and human rights defenders is a part of a campaign to force them out of Chechnya, believes Dmitry Piskunov, the head of the North-Caucasian branch of the "Committee Against Torture" (CaT).
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 6, Elena Milashina, a correspondent of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", and Krasnodar advocate Marina Dubrovina were attacked by a group of men and women in a hotel in Grozny.
Elena Milashina believes that she and Marina Dubrovina were beaten in connection with the fact that they had attended the trial in a case against Islam Nukhanov, who shot a video about the luxurious life style of Chechen officials. A wife of Islam Nukhanov succeeded in seeking an investigation under her complaint about unlawful detention of her husband.
Oleg Kozlovsky, an activist of the "Amnesty International" (AI), noted that the number of solved crimes related to attacks on human rights defenders and journalists in the Caucasus is "close to zero."
While working in Chechnya, Marina Dubrovina and Elena Milashina repeatedly received threats. The attack on them in Grozny was organized with the knowledge of the local authorities, friends and colleagues of the victims believe.
According to Oleg Kozlovsky, the practice of intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders exists not only in Northern Caucasus, "but in many places throughout Russia."
Dmitry Piskunov suggests that the attacks on Elena Milashina and Marina Dubrovina are on a par with detentions and attacks on activists of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the "Committee against Torture".
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 10, 2020 at 04:29 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Alyona Sadovskaya Source: CK correspondent
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