Award-winning Russian journalist Elena Milashina was hospitalized on Tuesday after being brutally attacked outside the airport in Chechnya, where the reporter had planned to attend the sentencing of politician Ramzan Kadyrov.

Milashina, who often covers human rights violations in Chechnya, had just arrived in the Russian region with lawyer Alexander Nemov when their vehicle was blocked by other cars. Several masked assailants approached them, pointed firearms at their heads and then brutally beat them and broke their work equipment.

Reports indicate that the journalist was taken to a hospital after the attack and there it was found that Milashina had several broken fingers and had suffered a brain injury. The lawyer, on the other hand, had a deep cut on his leg.

"Elena Milashina's fingers have been broken and she is sometimes losing consciousness. She has bruises all over her body," the human rights group Memorial said.

Milashina had already faced threats, intimidation and even assaults. In 2020, the journalist was beaten by a dozen people while she was in the lobby of her hotel.

Other journalists attacked and convicted

The risks faced by journalists in Russia are becoming increasingly evident. In 2006, journalist Anna Politkovskaya who used to criticize the Kremlin's actions in Chechnya was murdered without further details being released.

Evan Gershkovich a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was jailed this year in Russia on espionage charges after attempting to obtain information about the Wagner group. According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the journalist is accused of "acting at the behest of the U.S. side, collecting information constituting a state secret about the activities of a company within Russia's military-industrial complex."