Top Russian Rights Activist Pelted with Eggs in Chechnya

Masked men threw eggs, flour and disinfectant at a prominent Russian rights activist in the Chechen capital Grozny, sparking widespread condemnation on Thursday.

Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Committee to Prevent Torture rights group, was ordered to leave his hotel on Wednesday evening and then targeted by a group of "young men in civilian clothes and black masks", a lawyer for the group said.

 "They threw eggs, cake, flour and green disinfectant," Dmitry Utukin said.

Utukin posted a photograph on Facebook of Kalyapin standing with his face and jacket coated with flour and eggs and bright green disinfectant.

The Kremlin rights council, an advisory body to President Vladimir Putin, said it was "outraged and concerned" at the attack, which it condemned as "a disgrace."

Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia director Hugh Williamson said "the attack on Igor Kalyapin shows again that it's open season on human rights defenders in Chechnya."

Earlier this month, masked attackers beat up foreign journalists and support staff and set fire to their minibus while they were touring Grozny.

Kalyapin said a group of men entered his hotel room and ordered him to leave, citing his criticism of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. 

Outside a group of women shouted at him, asking how he dared to "speak badly of Ramzan," he said.

Kalyapin was visiting Grozny to meet journalists and a Chechen rights activist, his group said.

Last year the group's office in Grozny was attacked by masked men after it criticised Kadyrov's call to destroy the houses of relatives of suspected Islamists.

Kadyrov supporters have shouted slogans condemning Kalyapin at officially-organised demonstrations. 

Kadyrov posted mocking messages on Instagram about the attack on Kasyanov, which witnesses said appeared to be carried out by Chechens.

Kadyrov is accused by rights activists and the  opposition of running the region as his personal fiefdom with a private army, with wide use of kidnapping and torture and little oversight from Moscow.