Chechen police deny reports of force being used to detain Musayeva

Human rights activists pointed out the contradiction between the testimony of the security forces and the recording of the arrest, which shows Musaeva being dragged by her arms and legs.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, on June 24, the FSIN employee who is a victim in the case of Zarema Musaeva for disrupting the activities of the colony, again failed to appear for questioning in court, citing health reasons. The last prosecution witness questioned by the court testified in favor of Musaeva.

An employee of the Sheikh-Mansurovsky Investigative Department questioned five of the seven operatives who participated in Musayeva's detention in Nizhny Novgorod: Muslim Vashaev, Idris Tsuraev, Sherip Chetaev, Beslan Abubakarov and Adam Madigov. Two operatives were not questioned due to their dismissal from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The police said that none of them used physical force against Musayeva or the other people present in the apartment, Musayeva opened the door for them herself and after a "convincing conversation, she decided to go with them to Grozny, according to today's message on the Telegram channel "Team Against Torture"*.

The "convincing conversation" was recorded by a surveillance camera. It shows several people first entering the apartment where Musayeva lived with her family, and then dragging her out, holding her by the arms and legs. Another recording shows Zarema being led through the snow to the car in a simple sweater and without shoes. In addition, according to the woman, she was not allowed to take her vital insulin with her on the road," KPP* comments on the video recordings of Musayeva's arrest provided in the post.

Human rights activists note that, according to the law, investigators from Chechnya should have questioned the operatives within 10 days, although more than three years have passed since that moment. During this period, investigators from Nizhny Novgorod sent six interrogation orders to Chechnya. "The contradiction between the explanations and the video recording must be eliminated during an additional investigation," the commentary says.

Zarema Musayeva is an elderly woman weakened by serious illnesses, and to suggest that she attacked an armed guard during a trip to the hospital is simply absurd, says lawyer Timur Filippov.

"Everything indicates that the new charge is not aimed at establishing the truth, but at artificially prolonging her imprisonment, essentially as a political hostage. Positive characteristics, including the testimony of a cellmate about Musayeva's peaceful behavior, are important for the defense, but in the current repressive judicial system they rarely become decisive. In a politically motivated trial and the absence of an objective investigation, such evidence is often ignored. The very fact that the charge is based on the words of the "victim", who did not even show up for questioning, already looks dubious, but this is an argument for the court in a normal legal reality. The practice of recent years suggests that neither the prosecutor nor the court will be embarrassed by the absence of the victim in the court hearing, and his testimony can be made public, which the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation allows for,” he said earlier in a comment to a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Details about Kadyrov’s conflict with the Yangulbayevs are provided in the “Caucasian Knot” reports “How the Yangulbayevs became Kadyrov’s enemies” and “The main thing about the fight between Kadyrov’s men and the Yangulbayevs”.

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