GENEVA (7 July 2023) – UN experts* today urged the Russian Federation to investigate the violent attack against award-winning Novaya Gazeta journalist, Yelena Milashina, and human rights lawyer, Alexander Nemov, and bring to justice the perpetrators and those who ordered it.
“We are appalled by the violent physical attack against a journalist and a human rights lawyer on the morning of 4 July,” the experts said. “It is another example of the blatant disregard for the safety of journalists and human rights defenders in the Russian Federation.”
The pair was assaulted and badly beaten by a group of masked assailants shortly after arriving in the Russian Republic of Chechnya on Tuesday (4 July) to cover the trial of Zarema Musaeva, the mother of exiled opposition activists who challenged the leader of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. President Kadyrov stated on his social media in January 2022 that the family of Musaeva “was waiting for a place either in prison or in the ground”.