Russian journalist gets beaten

From the Los Angeles Times:

A crusading Russian reporter was in a coma Saturday after two masked men savagely beat him with metal rods, an attack that drew the immediate condemnation not only of his fellow journalists but of President Dmitry Medvedev

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Mikhail Fedotov, the secretary of the Russian Journalists Union, pointed to the bludgeoning of Kashin's hands as particularly sinister.

"What's so utterly disgusting about the case is that the attackers did their utmost if not to kill Kashin but to maim him gravely enough to prevent him from ever being physically able to write again," Fedotov said.

Fedotov said Kashin's beating was the fifth attack on Russian journalists in just the past 30 days, adding to a climate of intimidation in a country that has seen growing protests over limits on personal liberties.