Jailed mother of Chechen activists hospitalised after son’s comments on Kadyrov illness

Zarema Musaeva, the jailed mother of three exiled Chechen human rights activists, has been taken to hospital again as her state of health noticeably worsened, her son Abubakar Yangulbaev said on Telegram Wednesday.

Yangulbaev said his mother was no longer able to walk, even on crutches, offering to “swap places” with her before she died in jail.

He believes that his mother’s deteriorating health could be tied to his recent comments on the reported illness of Kremlin-backed Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov.

Yangulbaev backed Novaya Gazeta Europe’s reports of Kadyrov’s terminal illness in an interview with the Khodorkovsky LIVE YouTube channel on Monday. Kadyrov is already “incapacitated”, Yangulbaev said, and only “sporadically” participates in governing the republic.

Musaeva’s sons, Abubakar, Ibragim and Baysangur, are known for their criticism of Kadyrov.

Security forces came to Musaeva’s apartment in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod in January 2022 and took her to an unknown location. She was initially placed under administrative arrest for 15 days. In what was clearly a politically motivated act, she was then charged with fraud and assaulting a police officer and sentenced to five years in prison.

Musaeva’s defence team first asked the court to release her on health grounds in December. She was also hospitalised in March and June.