Zarema Musayeva sentenced to new term

The Shali City Court of Chechnya sentenced Zarema Musayeva, the mother of opposition activists Yangulbaev, to 3 years and 11 months in prison. The woman was accused of disrupting the activities of a correctional facility.

According to the case materials, Musayeva allegedly attacked an FSIN officer during transportation to the hospital, scratching his neck and damaging his shoulder strap. However, the testimony of the FSIN officers is contradictory: one of the guards claimed that Musayeva hit and scratched him, while the second did not see it. Versions of the scene of the incident also differ.

In her final statement, Musayeva expressed fears for her life and asked not to send her to the colony where the officer who accused her works.

Sergei Babinets, head of the Team Against Torture (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), declared Musayeva innocent, calling her case a "public show trial." He recalled that the woman was detained by force and that, in his opinion, her innocence is obvious to anyone familiar with her story.

Zarema Musayeva, the 55-year-old wife of former Chechen judge Saidi Yangulbaev and the mother of opposition activists critical of Ramzan Kadyrov, was detained in January 2022 in Nizhny Novgorod by Chechen security forces. In July 2023, she was sentenced in Grozny to 5.5 years in prison on charges of violence against a police officer and fraud. She was supposed to be released in March of this year.

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