10:00, 10 March 2016

RWB: new attacks on JMG are consequence of impunity for past events

The Russian authorities must ensure the attraction to liability of those involved in the pogrom of the office of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) and the attack on journalists and rights defenders in Ingushetia, said Johann Beer, the head of the "Reporters without Borders" (RWB). The past similar incidents are still unpunished, he said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 9 in the Chechen-Ingush border, a minivan of the JMG was attacked. Nine people, who were in the van, were beaten up. On the same evening, the office of the JMG in Ingushetia was attacked.

The international RWB is outraged at the attacks and calls on the Russian authorities to investigate them, said Johann Beer the head of the RWB.

Among other trends, dangerous for rights defenders and journalists in the Caucasus, he named called the law on foreign agents and "loud statements of the head of Chechnya against his critics."

Let us remind you that these attacks have become the third incident with the JMG in Northern Caucasus since 2014. On June 3, 2015, the JMG office in Grozny was ruined; and on December 13, 2014, the office of rights defenders was set on fire. Nobody was ever punished for these previous attacks.

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