The Shali City Court in Chechnya has again rejected an application for Zarema Musayeva, who is seriously ill, to be released on parole. The hearing began the previous day and continued today in an off-site session held at the penal colony where she is serving her sentence.

The Team Against Torture, which represents Musayeva, said her lawyer told the court that she met the legal requirements for parole, taking into account the illnesses from which the political prisoner suffers.

“We still believe that the materials submitted in Zarema Musayeva’s case provide grounds for granting her parole. This position is consistent both with the Supreme Court’s Plenum guidance and with established judicial practice,” said Alexander Savin.

The application is being considered following a new conviction against Musayeva in a criminal case opened while she was already in custody. In March 2026, a court found her guilty under Article 321 of the Russian Criminal Code, concerning the disorganisation of the activities of an institution responsible for isolating people from society, and sentenced her to three years and 10 months in a penal colony settlement. Prosecutors alleged that Musayeva had attacked a Federal Penitentiary Service officer.

Her defence appealed against the conviction, but a higher court upheld it. Musayeva’s transfer to a penal colony settlement made it possible for the court to consider her eligibility for parole.

The case is a continuation of the criminal prosecution Musayeva has faced since January 2022. At the time, she was forcibly taken from Nizhny Novgorod to Chechnya. Criminal proceedings were opened against her on charges of fraud and using violence against a representative of the authorities.

Human rights defenders and observers have directly linked Musayeva’s detention, forcible removal and subsequent trial to the activities of her sons, who had criticised the Chechen leadership.

In 2024, while Musayeva was already in detention, another criminal case was opened against her — this time over an alleged attack on a prison officer. Investigators claimed that she had used violence against the officer. Both her defence lawyers and Musayeva herself categorically rejected the allegation, as they had all previous charges.

Musayeva has insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes, a condition requiring continuous treatment, monitoring of her health and a special diet.

Zarema Musayeva is the mother of former federal judge Said-Yangulbaev and activists Abubakar, Ibragim and Baisangur Yangulbaev, who ran the 1ADAT Telegram channel, which was critical of the authorities in the republic. During his annual televised call-in programme in December 2025, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov effectively acknowledged that the woman had been politically persecuted because of the activities of members of her family.

“We found the father, mother and brother — all of them — working on social media. Then we went to Russia to get them and took the woman away. But the husband fled. If he had been brave, he would have come with his wife,” Kadyrov said.

The Memorial Human Rights Centre recognised Musayeva as a political prisoner as early as August 2022.