Russian human rights body says groups of rights activists, journalists attacked near Chechnya-Ingushetia border
MOSCOW. March 9 (Interfax) - A group of travelers that included rights activists and Russian and foreign journalists, was attacked near the border between the Russian regions of Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia's Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights reports on its website.
"It was about 7:15 p.m. when a group of unidentified people traveling in three cars, attacked the group of right activists [that consisted of] a Joint Mobile Group and reporters near the Ingushetia-Chechnya border," Igor Kalyapin, the chairman of the Committee to Prevent Torture and a member of the Council, said.
"The reporters and right activists were beaten up, two of them had their mobile phones taken away from them, and the car of the rights activists crashed and was set on fire," Kalyapin said.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Chechnya government told Interfax that "such incidents didn't take place in Chechnya".
"The minivan with the journalists and right activists was blocked by several cars," Dmitry Utukin, a member of the Committee to Prevent Torture, wrote on his Twitter page.
"They began to smash our windows, screaming: "Come outside, terrorists!" When everybody left the van, the attackers started beating everyone up. They set the van on fire," Utukin said.
"Journalists from Norway and Sweden have been badly injured," as have the members of the Committee to Prevent Torture, Ivan Zhiltsov and Ekaterina Vanslova, according to Utukin. "Katya's leg is badly hurt, Ivan had his nose damaged," he said.
"Now a highly ranked officer of the Interior Minister of Ingushetia is taking our employees and journalists from Sweden and Norway to the hospital by car. Journalists from Norway and Sweden, as well as our legal advisor and minivan driver, were admitted to the Sunzha Central District Hospital with injuries," Utukin wrote.