EU calls on Russia to release kidnapped wife of Chechen judge Zarema Musayeva

The European Union has demanded the release of Zarema Musayeva, the wife of retired Chechen Supreme Court judge Saidi Yangulbaev, who was forcibly taken to the republic from Nizhny Novgorod by Chechen security forces.

A statement on the website of the European External Action Service expressed concern about the ongoing human rights violations in Chechnya, the inaction of the federal authorities in Moscow and the impunity of those responsible.

The European Union calls on the Russian authorities to release Musayeva, conduct an investigation, put an end to the persecution of human rights defenders and their families, and immediately release those detained on trumped-up charges. All cases of extrajudicial executions, torture and other gross human rights violations committed in recent years must be promptly and effectively investigated and those responsible brought to justice.

• On January 20, armed masked men who identified themselves as Chechen law enforcement officers burst into the apartment of Saidi Yangulbaev and Zarema Musayeva in Nizhny Novgorod. They showed a warrant to bring the family to Chechnya as witnesses in a fraud case, after which they forcibly took Musayeva away. Yangulbaev himself was not touched, since he showed a judge's ID.
• Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov called the Yangulbayev family "accomplices of terrorists" and demanded that they be detained. The judge's sons, who live abroad, believe that the family is being persecuted because one of them, Ibragim Yangulbayev, was an administrator of public pages that criticized the Chechen authorities.
• The whereabouts of Zarema Musayeva are unknown. The woman has diabetes and needs insulin injections several times a day. The Chechen ombudsman published a video in which Musayeva says that she was given all the necessary medications and no violence was used against her. However, she looks tired and speaks with difficulty.
• The human rights organization "Committee Against Torture" launched a petition demanding that the Russian authorities release Zarema Musayeva. At the time of writing, it had been signed by more than 26,000 people.
• The Kremlin previously stated that it would not look into the situation with the kidnapping of Zarema Musayeva, considering it a “fantastic story.”
• On January 22, Saidi Yangulbaev left Russia with his daughter Aliya out of fear for his life.