21:52, 9 March 2016

Nine persons suffered in attack on rights defenders' van in Chechnya

Burning car of the rights defenders which has been attacked. Macrh 9, 2016. Photo by Yegor Skovoroda published in his Twitter

Eight rights defenders and journalists, who were in the van of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) during the attack, as well as the driver, were in need of medical care, said the Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today on the Ingush-Chechen border, a van with rights defenders was attacked by a group of unidentified persons. The van was set on fire, and people, who were inside, were beaten up.

All the people, who were in the car, were injured and asked for medical help, said the spokesman of the CPT.

The page of the JMG on the Facebook posts the list of victims, including a Norwegian journalist Oistan Vindstad from the edition named "Ny tid", a Swedish Radio correspondent Lena Maria Persson Löfgren, Alexandra Elagina from The New Times, Yegor Skovoroda, a correspondent of the "Mediazona", a blogger Mikhail Solunin, and a journalist Anton Prusakov, who collaborated with the "Kommersant". Apart from Ivan Zhiltsov, a lawyer Ekaterina Vanslova, another employee of the CPT, was in the van. The driver's name is Bashir Pliev.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondent