In her final statement, Zarema Musaeva stated that she feared for her life

At the session of the Shali City Court, Zarema Musayeva, speaking with her final statement, refused to admit guilt in disorganizing the work of the colony. She also asked not to send her to the penal colony-settlement where she served her first term, as she fears for her life.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, on June 24, an employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service, who is a victim in the case of Zarema Musayeva for disorganizing the work of the colony, told the court that the convict demanded to leave her in the medical institution and repeatedly insulted him. This statement was not confirmed by any of the 14 witnesses. Despite the fact that the testimony of witnesses and evidence clearly show the innocence of Zarema Musayeva, the verdict of the Chechen court in the politically motivated case is a foregone conclusion, the human rights activist believes. The prosecution demanded that Musaeva be sentenced to four years in a penal colony. The prosecution's version of Zarema Musayeva's attack on a prison colony employee is based only on his testimony; witnesses did not confirm her guilt, the defense stated, demanding that Musayeva be acquitted.

Zarema Musayeva, accused of disrupting the work of the penal colony, gave her final statement today in the Shali City Court. "I did not commit any crime. This is all untrue," the Team Against Torture* quotes her as saying.

She asked not to send her to the penal colony where she served her sentence under the first sentence and where the FSIN employee who accused her of the attack works.

"I have one huge request to the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service: don't send me to penal colony No. 3. I fear for my life. I beg everyone who can help me to help me, so that I don't end up there," she said.

The court has retired to a deliberation room until August 6, when the verdict will be announced.

Recall that on November 11, 2024, it became known that a criminal case was opened against Musayeva for disrupting the activities of the penal colony. The investigation believes that Musayeva, returning from treatment in the same car with an employee of the penal colony, "hit him with her palm in the neck area" and also "torn off the left shoulder strap from his uniform." Details are provided in the "Caucasian Knot" report "The Case of Zarema Musayeva".

Earlier, on July 4, 2023, the court sentenced Zarema Musayeva to 5.5 years in prison, finding her guilty of attacking a police officer. The appellate court reduced the sentence to five years and ordered Musayeva's transfer to a penal colony. The cassation court reduced Musayeva's sentence by another three months - to four years and nine months. This term expired on March 23, 2025. The defense insists on Musayeva's innocence.

Zarema Musayeva is the wife of former federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev. Chechen security forces took her away from her apartment in Nizhny Novgorod on January 20, 2022. After this, Ramzan Kadyrov accused the Yangulbaev family of organizing a terrorist network and said that their place was "in prison or underground."

You can read about Kadyrov's conflict with the Yangulbaevs in the "Caucasian Knot" reports "How the Yangulbaevs became Kadyrov's enemies" and "The main thing about the fight between Kadyrov's men and the Yangulbaevs".