15 February 2020, 18:04
Journalist receive murder threat a week after she was beaten up in Grozny
The author of a letter to the editorial board of the "Novaya Gazeta" has threatened the journalist, Elena Milashina, with a "death sentence" for her publications about Chechnya and Ramzan Kadyrov. In another threat posted in social networks, the recent attack on Milashina in Grozny is called a warning to the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 6, Milashina and the Krasnodar advocate Marina Dubrovina were attacked in a Grozny hotel. The publications of Chechen media approving the beating indicate that the attack had to do with Kadyrov's call to crack down on authors of gossips about Chechnya, human rights defenders assert.
Elena Milashina believes that she and Dubrovina were beaten up because they had attended the trial of Islam Nukhanov, who shot a video about luxurious life of Chechen officials and after torture was accused of keeping cartridges.
A threatening letter arrived to the editorial e-mail box of the "Novaya Gazeta" addressed to the observer Milashina. "Say thanks that you weren't killed at all! Forget about Ramzan Akhmatovich and Chechnya in general. Otherwise, it'll be your end. And we'll execute your death sentence!" the letter said.
Earlier, on February 12, in the page "Kadyrov's Basement" in the VKontakte social network, another threat was posted addressed to employees of the HRC "Memorial". "The fact that your lawyer and journalist were beaten up in Grozny is a warning to you! If once again someone from your society appears in Chechnya, we'll kill him/her!" says the post.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 15, 2020 at 01:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
