MASKED assailants attacked a prominent investigative journalist and a lawyer in Chechnya today amid a violent pattern of rampant human rights abuses in the Russian republic.

Novaya Gazeta reporter Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov had just arrived in Chechnya to attend the trial of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of two local activists who have challenged the republic’s authorities.

Their vehicle was blocked in by several cars as they left the airport and they were heavily beaten by several masked assailants, who have not been identified.

Ms Milashina sustained a brain injury and had several fingers broken, while Mr Nemov received a deep cut to his leg, according to Novaya Gazeta.

Speaking in a video from a hospital bed, Ms Milashina said: “They threw the driver out of the car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, forced me down to my knees and put a gun to my head.”

She added that the assailants were visibly nervous and had trouble tying her hands.

A photo showed her talking on the phone in hospital, with green antiseptic covering her face and multiple bruises on her shaven head.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the incident a “very serious assault that warrants energetic measures” from law enforcement agencies.

Russian human rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova and Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin called for a probe into the attack.

The Russian Ministry for Digital Development and Mass Communications urged law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the attack and punish the perpetrators.

Previous attacks on Ms Milashina and other journalists who have exposed human rights abuses in Chechnya have been met with silence from officials.

In 2020, Ms Milashina and a lawyer accompanying her were beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel.