A criminal case was opened against Zarema Musaeva, who was kidnapped by Chechen security forces, for “use of violence against a representative of the authorities”

Zarema Musaeva, the mother of Chechen human rights activists, was prosecuted under the article “Use of violence against a representative of the authorities”, writes The base.

Recall that Musaeva was forcibly taken for interrogation to Chechnya, where she was supposed to testify in the fraud case in Grozny in 2019. According to the police, when the woman was taken to the police station, she screamed and insulted the officers who were there. The district police officer for the Akhmatovsky district of Grozny began to draw up a report on her, and at that moment, according to the policeman, Musaeva grabbed him by the left cheek with her right hand and scratched her face when trying to pull him away.

According to Baza, a criminal case was opened against Musaeva under the second part of Article 318 – the woman’s actions were assessed as violence, dangerous to the life or health of a police officer. According to this article, Zareme can face up to 10 years in prison. Tonight she should choose a measure of restraint.

Earlier today on Zarema’s son, Ibragim Yangulbaev, also started criminal case. He is accused of public calls for terrorist activities.

Last week, Novaya Gazeta published Yangulbaev’s explanations given to the lawyers of the “Committee against Torture” as part of the preparation of a complaint to the ECtHR. Yangulbaev, known for his sharp criticism of the Chechen authorities, toldthat in 2015 he, along with his father and brother, were kidnapped and tortured at the residence of Ramzan Kadyrov because of publications in the VKontakte group.

On January 20, in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechen police broke into the apartment of federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev, Ibragim’s father and Abubakar Yangulbaev, a former employee of the Committee Against Torture. They could not kidnap Saydi Yangulbaev himself, since he has a judicial immunity status, but they took away his wife Zarema Musaeva. The pretext for the abduction was that she was allegedly a witness in a fraud case in Grozny, where they were going to take her by force. Musayeva is sick with coronavirus, and besides, she has diabetes.

The “Committee against Torture” filed an urgent complaint with the ECtHR under Rule 39 in connection with the kidnapping of Musayeva. Rule 39 – “fast legal aid” from the ECtHR. It applies if there is a threat to life or harm to human health, and all national remedies have been exhausted.