Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina told how she and her lawyer Alexander Nemov were beaten in Chechnya. According to her, surveillance of them most likely began in Moscow, since the plane's departure was delayed until two more people entered it. They sat down next to Nemov.
According to Milashina, Nemov was beaten with particular cruelty, while it was said that he was “protecting too many” in the republic. They beat her with polypropylene tubes, characteristic elongated hematomas can be seen on Milashina's face and hands. Such pipes in Chechnya are often used to torture people. Nemov also had a knife stuck in his calf muscle.
Nemov said that they stopped them almost immediately after they left the airport in a taxi. Three Camry cars blocked their way. People in masks came out of there, they threw the taxi driver out, and the passengers were forced to drive with their faces to the floor. According to Nemov, he was told that they would have been killed if not for his children.
“After some time, the car stalled. We were taken out of the salon and lowered into a ravine. They put us on our knees and started beating us. I was immediately stabbed in the leg. I tried to explain to them that I was a lawyer, that I was just doing my job. To which I was told that there is no need to protect anyone in Chechnya, they will do it themselves.
Then they covered my head with my own jacket and started beating me. Feels like polyethylene pipes. Then their leader put a weapon to his head and said that he would have killed me if he had not felt sorry for my children. After that, we were told to count to 100 and only then open our eyes. But I did not count to 100 and opened it ahead of time. When their leader saw this, he came up to me and kicked me in the chest, ”Alexander Nemov told a Nemoskva correspondent.
Elena Milashina says that it was noticeable that the attackers had clear tasks and a time limit, as they were in a hurry. They were laid face down in the ground, Milashina is still forced to constantly drink water because of the taste of damp earth in her mouth.
“They knew what they wanted, what their limits were, beyond which they couldn’t go. Although we later thought that if they hit Sasha in the artery .. But the doctors said that they knew exactly where to pierce with a knife, apparently so that he would not resist much, since he is a man. They understood their possibilities and limitations very well. They had the tough task of getting phone passwords. They told me to count to a hundred. We buried ourselves in the ground, they also forced me to eat this land. And they left. Sasha and I lie down, count, get up, at that moment they come running back. It was a difficult moment, we decided that they had left, and they started to beat us again. Sasha was beaten very severely, they started to break my fingers, but they didn't. In Grozny, they made a plaster cast, because they saw fractures of three fingers on an x-ray. In Ossetia, all the procedures were repeated and there is a concussion, but there are still no fractures. They <the attackers> knew what they were doing.
They didn’t take the money, I had crumpled 13 thousand left there, they didn’t take the cards. They were only interested in technology and documents. Sasha was spoiled with all the documents except for his passport – a foreign passport and a lawyer's certificate.