“Today's brutal attack on Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Aleksandr Nemov in the Republic of Chechnya is an appalling act of violence that shows contempt for human dignity and the importance of press freedom”, said the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović.
“It is deeply worrying that this incident is part of a disturbing pattern of attacks on journalists and collaborators of Novaya Gazeta. Igor Domnikov, Anastasiya Baburova, Viktor Popkov, Yury Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemirova, Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal were working or had collaborated for the newspaper when they were killed. Its editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, and Elena Milashina herself have also been repeatedly attacked and threatened in the past.
These attacks highlight a worrying trend of hostility towards journalists. Decades long impunity for perpetrators and masterminds of these horrific attacks and murders only lead to repeated attacks.
I express my solidarity with Elena Milashina and Aleksander Nemov and with all journalists who face risks and threats in the exercise of their profession. I also call on the member states of the Council of Europe to denounce these attacks, demand accountability and stand by journalists in the Russian Federation.”