A lawyer working for the respected Russian human rights group Memorial has been severely beaten in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan.
Memorial said that Murad Magomedov, 32, was attacked by five unknown assailants in broad daylight shortly after he left the Daghestan Supreme Court building in the regional capital, Makhachkala, on February 4.
Magomedov sustained severe head injuries and was hospitalized at Daghestan's Central Clinic, Memorial said on its website.
Memorial said it has appealed to Russian human rights commissioner Ella Pamfilova and the chairman of President Vladimir Putin's advisory council on human rights, Mikhail Fedotov, for help investigating the attack.
It said Magomedov had recently received threats.
Magomedov has been working with Memorial to defend the rights of residents of Vremenny, a settlement in which many residents were driven from their homes last year to make way for a "counterterrorism operation" that lasted several weeks.
