The Russian journalist who uncovered the horrific kidnappings, detentions, and torture of gay men in Chechnya was attacked while visiting the southern Russian republic.

Elena Milashina, a reporter for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and her lawyer, Alexander Nemov, were both attacked while on their way to attend the court sentencing of a human rights activist in Grozny, Chechnya’s capital.

Milashina told her employer that the attack seemed to have been planned out. She said her attackers “knew what they were doing” and were “in a hurry,” attempting to intimidate them and gain access to their devices. 

“They beat us up two times,” Milashina says of her assailants in the most recent attack. “They were very specific, they knew what they wanted, knew what their limits were, beyond which they could not go.”

Milashina was beaten, bruised, had her fingers broken, her hair shaved off, and was coated with green dye during the attack. Nemov was beaten and stabbed with a knife.

“I don’t have any wounds, thank God, just bruises,” she said in a video interview with her employer, adding that she believes she and Nemov were targeted because of their professional activity.

Novaya Gazeta reported that the identity of the perpetrators is unknown. Milashine and Nemov were asked to give a statement to police, but refused to do so.

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The attack mirrors a similar one carried out against Milashina three years ago. Milashina also faced intense backlash and threats in 2017 after first breaking the news of the Chechen government’s crackdown on men and women who were either gay or gender-nonconforming in the Muslim-majority region of the Caucuses. Some Muslim clerics in Chechnya called for “retribution” against her and other journalists, and she was temporarily forced to flee Russia due to threats on her life, reports CNN.

Milashina initially reported on more than 100 Chechens — primarily gay men — who were arrested and detained in makeshift prisons and concentration camps, where they were often subjected to torture and asked to name other people whom they knew to be gay. Authorities would typically seize the men’s phones to track their conversations and use the contact information to arrest and torture other gay men or LGBTQ individuals. 

Upon being released, survivors of the makeshift detention centers reported that authorities encouraged their families to take matters into their own hands and perform “honor killings” of relatives suspected to be gay. Some families reportedly held mock funerals for family members who have since fled Russia, while others have allegedly carried out authorities’ wishes and killed their own family members.

Milashina subsequently reported on a group of 20 people whose whereabouts remained unknown after being seized by authorities back in 2016 — prior to the main “purge — and alleged that Chechen authorities had carried out a mass execution of the prisoners.

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Adding insult to injury, Chechen authorities subsequently targeted some of the survivors of the detention centers by accusing them of being “terrorists” or being affiliated with ISIS or other pro-Islamist groups in order to continue surveilling them, threatening to arrest them if they attempt to leave the region, and trying to ensure that those “red-flagged” as terrorists will be deported back to Russia if Western nations are gullible enough to believe that Russian or Chechen authorities are being truthful about alleged security threats.

Although Chechnya is technically under Russia’s control, Moscow has historically taken a “hands off” approach, allowing Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to exercise his power through whatever means he sees fit in exchange for his loyalty to the Putin regime and willingness to tamper down any attempts at secession or revolts by anti-Russian or pro-Islamist groups.

Chechen authorities have laughingly denied the detentions, pushing back against widespread reporting, with Kadyrov asserting that there were no gay people in Chechnya. He added that if any gay men were in Chechnya, they should leave the region, and a directed a spokesperson to subtly endorse “honor killings” of men suspected to be gay.

“If there were such people in Chechnya, law-enforcement agencies wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them,” Kadyrov’s press secretary said, “because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.”

Milashina and Nemov had been en route to a court ruling in the case of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of the Yangulbaev brothers, who are Chechen activists who have been critical of Kadyrov’s rule. Musayeva was sentenced to five years and six months in prison on charges of fraud and violence against a police officer, according to TASS, a Russian state-controlled news agency.

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According to CNN, the Kremlin called the attack on Milashina a “very serious attack” and promised to launch an investigation into the attack. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, claimed she had asked the Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya to ensure Milashina’s safety. 

Meanwhile, Chechen authorities have claimed to be pursuing the attackers, with Kadyrov ordering police to uncover their identities. However, Akhmed Dudayev, Chechnya’s minister for ethnic policy, external communications and mass media, sought to deflect blame, claiming that the attack on Milashina may be an attempt by Western nations to “discredit” Russia as it is currently enmeshed in the ongoing war with Ukraine. 

“No one here is allowed to disturb the peace and safety of citizens and guests, even if they are agents of the West. This case is extraordinary for the republic, and law enforcement officials have yet to find out the real reasons for the provocation and identify its instigators. It would make sense to ask this: if neither the Chechens, nor the republic, nor the authorities stand to benefit from this, then who does?” Dudayev said, according to TASS.

Human rights advocates have condemned the violent assault and demanded an investigation, noting that the attack appears to be an attempt to silence Milashina and other journalists who report on the wrongdoings of government agents.

Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia director, Marie Struthers, condemned the attack as a “cowardly assault” and demanded that police seek to arrest and punish the attackers.

Sergey Babinets, the head of the Russian human rights organization Team Against Torture, told CNN that the attackers had mentioned Milashina’s work and previous court reporting while beating her and stabbing Nemov.

“This is clearly not a gangster attack, this is a direct attack for their work,” he said in a statement.

Jeanne Cavalier, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, condemned the attack, noting that Kadyrov himself had previously threatened Milashina last year for reporting on Musayeva’s trial, and that five other Novaya Gazeta reporters have been murdered since Putin first came into power.

“Such barbaric acts of intimidation by thugs working for the Chechen Republic’s boss, Ramzan Kadyrov, will not prevent journalists from continuing to cover what is happening there,” Cavalier said. “We salute the incredible courage of Elena Milashina and her colleagues. Journalists continue tirelessly to investigate and report, despite the danger. Killing one of them does not kill their investigations.”