Сlient of lawyer beaten up in Chechnya was given 5.5 years in penal colony

A court in Grozny [the capital of Chechnya – ed.]  has sentenced Zarema Musayeva, the client of Alexander Nemov, the lawyer attacked and brutally beaten in Chechnya, to 5.5 years in a penal colony in a case of violence against a government official and fraud.

Source: Russian Air Force service, Medusa, Telegram channel of the Team Against Torture

Quote from Team Against Torture: "Zarema Musayeva was sentenced to 5.5 years in a general regime penal colony.

This is the term requested by the prosecutor for Zarema. The Akhmatovskiy District Court in Grozny has just found her guilty of fraud and the use of violence against a police officer."

Details: Human rights activists call the verdict political.

Musayeva is the wife of former Chechen federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev. Their sons, Abubakar and Ibrahim, are human rights activists and opposition figures. The family was forced to leave Chechnya [Federal Subject of Russia; Ukrainian parliament recognised it as temporarily Russian-occupied territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria – ed.] in 2017.

On 20 January 2022, security forces who claimed to work for Chechen law enforcement agencies broke into the apartment in Nizhny Novgorod where Saidi Yangulbayev, Zarema Musayeva and their children lived. They took Zaremа Musayeva to Chechnya, preventing her from taking the necessary medications (the woman has type 2 diabetes). The security forces explained their actions by the need to interrogate Musayeva in the fraud case. But in Grozny, she was accused of assaulting a police officer and arrested.

According to Nastoyashcheye Vremya ("Present Time"), the Chechen authorities link the Yangulbayevs to the activities of the 1ADAT movement, which openly criticises Kadyrov and whose website is blocked in Russia. Abubakar and Saidi deny any connection to 1ADAT. Only Ibrahim confirmed his participation in the movement.

At the end of 2021, the Yangulbayevs reported dozens of their relatives being abducted in Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov personally called this family terrorists, and promised to persecute them.

In January 2023, Abubakar Yangulbayev contacted Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and offered to exchange himself for his mother, as the woman's health had deteriorated over the past year. He also said that a woman "should not be held responsible for her sons' actions."

In December 2021 – early 2022, the Yangulbayev family left Russia due to threats.

Background:

• On 4 July, masked assailants attacked and severely beat the journalist of Novaya Gazeta Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov in Chechnya; the girl's fingers were broken, and the equipment and documents of the victims were destroyed.

• Milashina and Nemov were on their way to a court hearing in the case of Zarema Musayeva, who was abducted by Chechen security forces. The lawyer represents Musayeva's interests in court. The journalist was travelling to report on the court hearing.

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