Milashina has long exposed human rights violations in Chechnya and has faced threats, intimidation and attacks. In 2020, Milashina and a lawyer accompanying her were beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel.
“Elena Milashina’s fingers have been broken and she is sometimes losing consciousness. She has bruises all over her body,” the group said on social media.
The incident happened early on Tuesday as Milashina and her lawyer Alexander Nemov were travelling from the airport.
“They were savagely kicked, including in the face, received death threats and were threatened with a gun to the head. Their equipment was taken away and smashed,” Memorial said.
Milashina’s paper, Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s top independent media, confirmed the incident.
It said she and Nemov are currently in hospital in the Chechen capital Grozny.
They also said she was in Grozny to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of three exiles critical of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.
Musayeva was detained by Chechen forces in January last year in Nizhny Novgorod, 1,800 kilometres north of Chechnya.
Novaya Gazeta said February last year that Milashina had to leave Russia temporarily after receiving death threats from the Chechen leadership.
Milashina has covered human rights abuses in Chechnya for years.
