After the brutal mistreatment of the Russian investigative journalist Yelena Milashina and a lawyer in Chechnya, the Kremlin announced “very vigorous measures” against the perpetrators. What’s behind it? The star spoke to Chechen opposition figure Ibragim Jangulbaev. The trial that Milashina was going to was for his mother.
The Russian investigative journalist Yelena Milashina and the lawyer Alexander Nemov, who work for the independent Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, arrived on Tuesday morning for the hearing of the verdict in the trial against your mother. On the way to court, masked men beat her up and poured paint on her. Milashina’s fingers were broken and the perpetrators shaved her hair. How do you feel about her?
I have known Milashina for many years. When I was arrested for the second time in 2017, she helped me a lot. She helped many 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 were really as liberal as she says, she would have to accept that every people has a right to self-determination.