Zarema Musaeva, the wife of Saidi Yangulbaev, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Chechnya, and the mother of Chechen human rights activists Abubakar, Ibragim and Baysangur Yangulbaev, was sentenced to 5.5 years in a penal colony for "using violence against a police officer." This is reported by the project "Team Against Torture".
She was found guilty of “fraud” (Article 159 of the Criminal Code) and “use of violence against a representative of authority” (Article 318 of the Criminal Code).
Musayeva's defense asked to postpone the announcement of the verdict due to the attack on the lawyer Alexander Nemov, but the court refused the petition. Musaeva was represented in court by Alexander Savin, a lawyer from the Team Against Torture.
On the day of the announcement of the verdict, July 4, Novaya Gazeta journalist Yelena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov, who had come to cover the meeting, were attacked by unknown persons. On the way from the airport, the car was blocked by three cars with armed men who beat Milashina and Nemov and took away all their equipment. The attackers broke Milashina's fingers when they demanded a password from her phone, and she was also diagnosed with a closed craniocerebral injury. Zarema Musaeva's defenders, after the attack on the journalist and lawyer, filed a petition with the Akhmatovsky District Court of Grozny to provide their protection, Ksenia Sobchak reported .
Zarema Musayeva has been imprisoned in the Grozny pre-trial detention center for more than a year. Her case began in January 2022, when Chechen security forces broke into the apartment of Musayeva and her husband, retired federal judge Saydi Yangulbaev. He, as well as their sons, human rights activists Abubakar and Ibragim, regularly criticized Kadyrov's government. The security forces planned to kidnap Yangulbaev Sr., but they could not do this, since at that time he had judicial immunity. They took Musayeva away, as she was allegedly a witness in a fraud case in Grozny. During the detention, according to the investigation, she scratched the face of one of the security forces. A case was opened against her for violence against a representative of the authorities, dangerous to life and health.
On June 5, Musaeva was admitted to the hospital. For a year and a half in the pre-trial detention center, her eyesight has deteriorated, she can hardly move because of progressive back pain. She also has second-degree diabetes, which requires constant monitoring and treatment, her son said.
