Court reduces Zarema Musaeva’s sentence by six months

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya reduced the term of imprisonment for Zarema Musaeva to five years and replaced the term in a common-security penal colony with a settlement colony.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on July 4, the Akhmatovsky District Court of Grozny sentenced Zarema Musaeva to 5.5 years of imprisonment, finding her guilty of using violence against a policeman. Zarema Musaeva reported deterioration of her health state in a SIZO (pre-trial prison). In her final speech, she pleaded not guilty.

The category of the crime has been changed from a grave crime to a crime of medium gravity, reports a lawyer from the “Team Against Torture”*.

“We in the ‘Team Against Torture’* believe that any verdict other than an acquittal is illegal. Zarema Musaeva did not commit the crimes of which she is accused, and, in our opinion, the public prosecution failed to provide any evidence of her guilt,” said the lawyer.

He has also added that the health state of Zarema Musaeva does not allow her to serve the sentence.

According to the lawyer, Zarema Musaeva herself expressed her joy that the imprisonment period had been reduced.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that journalist Elena Milashina intended to attend the consideration of the Zarema Musaeva’s case in the Supreme Court of Chechnya, but cancelled her trip due to the lack of response from the authorities of Chechnya to the question about the safety of the trip.

*The "Team against Torture" (formerly the "Committee against Torture" – CaT) was created by the lawyers who had earlier worked for the CaT, which was included into the register of the NCOs performing the functions of foreign agents.