Team Against Torture lawyer Alexander Savin filed a complaint with the Court of Cassation. He asks to cancel the verdict of the Akhmatovsky District Court and the Supreme Court of Chechnya regarding Zarema Musaeva.

  “We still believe that the evidence used by the prosecution does not confirm Musayeva’s guilt. For example, these are expert opinions or contradictory testimony from witnesses to Musaeva’s attack on a policeman. At the same time, the courts of first and second instance refused to analyze the evidence of the defense, which points to numerous contradictions and the innocence of my client,” said Alexander Savin. The complaint will be considered by the Fifth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Pyatigorsk.

Let us recall that in July, a court in Grozny found Zarema Musaeva guilty of using violence against a police officer and fraud and sentenced her to five years in prison. According to investigators, the woman scratched the face of a police officer while taking her from an apartment in Nizhny Novgorod to Grozny. In addition, she was accused of aiding a certain Madina Azimova, who fraudulently issued consumer loans to insolvent borrowers.

According to lawyers, due to Musaeva’s health condition, she cannot serve her sentence. She suffers from type 2 diabetes and has had persistent nosebleeds and arm pain.

Zarema Musayeva is the mother of Chechen activists Abubakar, Ibragim and Baysangur Yangulbaev. Human rights activists claim that she was kidnapped as a hostage and convicted of her sons’ opposition activities.