After the brutal mistreatment of Russian investigative journalist Yelena Milashina and a lawyer in Chechnya, the Kremlin announced “extremely tough measures” against the perpetrators. What’s behind it? the strict Talk to Chechen dissident Ibrahim Dzhangulbayev. The trial that Milashina was going to conduct was for his mother.
Russian investigative journalist Yelena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov, both of Russia’s independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, arrived on Tuesday morning to hear the verdict in your mother’s trial. On her way to court, masked men beat her and poured paint on her. Milashina’s fingers were broken, and her hair was shaved off by the offenders. How do you feel about it?
I have known Milashina for many years. When I was arrested for the second time in 2017, you helped me a lot. She helped a lot of Chechens. She is one of the Russian journalists who understand what is happening here. But we have political differences. She does not support our independence movement. She wants Chechnya to remain part of Russia. If she is truly as liberal as she says she is, she will have to accept every people’s right to self-determination.