Prosecutor requests further 4-year sentence for mother of Kadyrov critics

A state prosecutor has asked a judge in the Russian republic of Chechnya to sentence the jailed mother of three prominent Chechen human rights activists to four years in a penal colony, after she was charged with attacking a police officer and scratching his neck, Crew Against Torture, a Russian human rights nonprofit, reported on Thursday.

Zarema Musaeva, 56, is the wife of former Chechen Supreme Court justice Saidi Yangulbaev, who fled Russia in 2022 after being threatened by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the republic. Her sons Abubakar, Ibragim and Baisangur Yangulbaev, currently living in exile, are well-known activists and critics of Kadyrov.

If Musaeva is convicted and given the requested four-year sentence, she could face up to nine years in prison in total, having already received a five-year sentence in July 2023 after being found guilty of fraud and attacking a police officer.

Musaeva has previously denied the charges filed against her, as well as the idea that she could physically attack a prison guard even if she wanted to. She has type-2 diabetes, uses crutches, and was hospitalised multiple times in 2024 for various ailments, including issues with walking and worsening eyesight.

“Nine years in prison would not just be a punishment, it would be revenge for the fact that she has children the way they are, and a slow execution, drawn out over time and covered up by pieces of paper that were once called the law”, Olga Sadovskaya, the deputy head of Crew Against Torture, wrote of the news on Thursday.

In May, Musaeva’s legal team requested her release from pretrial detention on medical grounds so that she could undergo an urgent medical examination and receive appropriate treatment. The Chechen Supreme Court refused the petition.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in May 2024 that Russia had violated Musaeva and her family’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, and that her arrest had been ordered as a way to intimidate her and her family.