Chechen ombudsman demands criminal case be brought against Russian journalist
Chechen ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiyev addressed the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (SKR) with an appeal to open a criminal case against Elena Milashina, a correspondent with Novaya Gazeta. From the ombudsman’s official website he accused Milashina of spreading false information about Magomed Daudov, Speaker of the Chechen Parliament. Nukhazhiyev alleged that Milashina’s aim was to discredit the speaker’s honor and dignity.
The issue is based on Milashina’s article published in Novaya Gazeta on March 10th, in which the journalist asserts that Chechen police tried to kidnap one of the defenders of the Committee against Torture (CAT) by order of Daudov.
"For sure, Elena Milashina knew that there was no criminal case against Magomed Daudov that accused him of kidnapping. There was also no conviction, for everyone charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent until his guilt is proved as provided by federal law procedure and established by a court verdict," the Ombudsman said in his official appeal.
According to Nukhazhiyev, Milashina’s actions were indicative of the crime of slander, coupled with the accusation of committing a serious or especially serious crime, as specified in article 128.1, part 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In his request, he asked the head of the management of the SKR in Chechnya, Sergei Sokolov to initiate a criminal investigation in this regard and to make Milashina to criminally liable.
Last week in Chechnya there were several attacks on human rights defenders. On the evening of March 16th, in the center of Grozny, unknown persons attacked the head of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Igor Kalyapin. Chechen law enforcement began an investigation into the incident. According to Deputy Interior Minister Apti Alaudinov, it was previously established that the human rights activist was “pelted with cakes and eggs."
On March 9th, in Ingushetia, near the border with Chechnya, unknown assailants attacked a bus full of human rights activists and journalists. The attackers physically assaulted the passengers and burned the bus.
Later, Mediazona correspondent Yegor Skovoroda told RBC that after the attack, investigators found no trace of the journalists’ computers and cameras in the burned bus. According to Skovoroda, electronics could not burn completely and they were most likely stolen during the attack.
A few hours after the attack on the highway, a lawyer for the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (KPP), Dmitri Utkin, said on Twitter that armed men attacked the headquarters of the human rights advocates of the Joint Mobile Group of KPP in the Ingush town of Karabulak. Utkin said the armed men arrived at the headquarters in five cars. One of them disabled the CCTV camera installed at the entrance while three others broke in through a window.