Paris, 2 December 2024. In November 2024, the Chechen authorities initiated a new criminal case against political prisoner Zarema Musaeva, accusing her of "disorganising the activities of the penal colony" under Article 321.2 of the Russian criminal code. She is suspected of assaulting a Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) officer, a charge that could lead to up to five years in prison. Given Zarema Musaeva’s state of health –she has type 2 diabetes and uses crutches to walk– these accusations seem fabricated, suggesting that she is persecuted in retaliation for her sons’ vocal criticism of Ramzan Kadyrov and the Chechen authorities.
Zarema Musaeva is the mother of Chechen opposition figures Abubakar and Ibrahim Yangulbaev, who are accused of being involved in administering the Telegram channel 1ADAT by the Chechen authorities. The channel publishes information about kidnappings and detentions in the region, as well as corruption and other illegal activities by Chechen security forces and officials, including Ramzan Kadyrov himself. As a result, the Chechen authorities have brutally retaliated against those associated with 1ADAT. For example, in September 2020, a video widely circulated in and beyond Chechnya showed 19-year-old Salman Tepsurkaev, an administrator of 1ADAT, being raped, stating he was being punished for collaborating with the channel. Tepsurkaev had been abducted from Krasnodar Krai and was brutally murdered by Chechen security forces after being tortured.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has repeatedly issued personal threats against the Yangulbaev family, while Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma deputy from Chechnya, publicly threatened to "cut off their heads." Both Ibrahim and Abubakar Yangulbaev are currently outside Russia.
In January 2022, Chechen police stormed the apartment of the Yangulbaev brothers’ parents —former federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev and Zarema Musaeva— allegedly to bring them in for questioning in a fraud case. Since detaining a federal judge in Russia requires the prosecutor general’s permission, the police instead seized his wife, Zarema Musaeva, who had lost consciousness during the raid. She was forcibly dragged from the apartment without shoes or a coat and taken to Chechnya —over 2,000 kilometers away from her home in Nizhny Novgorod. Initially, she was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest for "petty hooliganism", after which she was charged in a criminal case for allegedly assaulting a government official under Article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code, and placed in pre-trial detention. Later, she was also charged with fraud (Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code). On 4 July 2023, a court in Grozny found Zarema Musaeva guilty and sentenced her to five and a half years of imprisonment in a penal colony.
On the same day, unknown assailants attacked Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov, who were traveling to Grozny for Musayeva’s court hearing. Masked individuals stopped their car, dragged them out, and brutally beat them with batons and kicks. The attackers confiscated their phones, destroyed their equipment, and shredded their documents.
On 5 March 2024, the Fifth Cassation Court in Pyatigorsk reduced Zarema Musaeva’s sentence to 4 years and 9 months. Ms Musaeva is currently serving her sentence in a settlement colony in Argun (Chechnya) and was expected to be released in March 2025. Given Zarema Musaeva’s serious state of health, the additional charges brought against her in November 2024, potentially prolonging her detention for another five years, are particularly worrying.
FIDH and its member organisations urge the Russian authorities to drop all criminal charges against Zarema Musaeva, to release her immediately, and to stop persecuting those criticising the Chechen authorities, including by retaliating against their relatives. They also urge the international community to pressure the Russian authorities to stop the politically motivated persecution of Zarema Musayeva based on fabricated charges.