Journalism security

Human rights activists, journalists attacked on Ingushetia-Chechnya border

A group of journalists and human rights activists traveling on the Kavkaz federal motorway in Russia’s restive North Caucasus region have been beaten up by gunmen, Igor Kalyapin, chairman of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, one of Russia’s leading human rights organizations, told Interfax on March 9.

The incident occurred on the administrative border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, as unknown masked assailants arrived in several cars and stopped a minibus and a Priora car that was accompanying the bus. According to preliminary reports, the assailants removed those on board, beat them up with wooden sticks, damaged the vehicle and then fled.