MOSCOW (Reuters) – A leading Russian journalist was in a coma yesterday after two men broke his legs, jaw and fingers in an attack which his editor said was likely to be linked to his coverage of banned opposition groups.
Rights groups have criticised the Kremlin for doing too little to solve a string of journalists’ murders that have made Russia one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters.
Police said they had opened a criminal case over the attempted murder of Oleg Kashin, 30, a political reporter with Kommersant, Russia’s best respected general daily newspaper.
“They didn’t just rough him up. To make their point they broke the fingers of a journalist,” Kommersant editor Mikhail Mikhailin told Reuters. “I’m stunned.”
Mikhailin said the motive was unclear, but likely to be linked to Kashin’s recent investigations into extremist youth groups, including banned opposition group the National Bolshevik Party.
“He undertook investigations into various informal organisations. I feel something he wrote might have upset someone who decided to take these vicious measures,” he said.
Doctors induced a coma after Kashin was admitted to hospital with both his legs broken, a damaged skull and his jaw fractured in two places, Mikhailin said. They would decide tomorrow if they could remove him from intensive care, he said.
