The well-known Russian human rights defender Igor Kaliapin was attacked at a home in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russian media reported on Thursday morning. The man was taken to hospital, the perpetrator was arrested.
“On Wednesday evening, a member of the Human Rights Council (with the president Russia – ed.) by Igor Kaliapin. The perpetrator tried to cut his face and strangle him. Our colleague managed to call the police and the criminal was arrested. Investigations are currently underway, “the Human Rights Council reported on Telegram.
The attacker “introduced himself”
The attack on Kaliapina took place on Wednesday evening. Protector human rights he was staying at that time in a house in the country. The perpetrator – as reported by the daily “Moskovsky Komsomolets” – claimed to be the head of the criminal department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Nizhny Novgorod. First he was at the house of his neighbor Kaliapin, then he entered the house of a human rights defender. “During the conversation, the attacker knocked Kaliapin to the ground and began to strangle him,” reported “Moskovsky Komsomolets”.
Igor Kaliapin Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Forum
Kaliapin was taken to the hospital. His life is not in danger. He told a journalist on the Telegram channel “Ostorozhno, Novosti” that the attacker had tried to kill him. “He wanted to pierce my throat with a piece of glass,” he claimed. When asked if the attack was related to human rights activities, Kaliapin replied: “I don’t know, maybe.”
Kadyrov’s threats
Kaliapin is a well-known human rights activist, member of the Human Rights Council and founder of the Committee Against Torture, repeatedly recognized by the Russian authorities as a “foreign agent” and later dissolved. The decision was made by the management of the Committee Against Torture.
“The Committee Against Torture was actively involved in the protection of human rights in Chechnya. The head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, wrote in January this year on the Telegram channel that he considered Kaliapin a” terrorist. “The human rights defender calmly reacted to his words, responding in this way: Ramzan Akhmatovich is like a child, he is nervous now. There are no halftones, anyone who disagrees with him, at least in some way, is a terrorist. These are insults that he knows “- recalled the Russian section of the BBC.
BBC, Moskovsky Komsomolets, meduza.io
Main photo source: Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Forum