The overturning of the sentence deprived Musaeva of the opportunity to seek parole.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Chechnya deprived Zarema Musayeva's defense of the opportunity to seek her transfer to another penal colony and parole, and a new trial could even result in a harsher sentence.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, in August 2025, the Shali Court of Chechnya sentenced Zarema Musayeva to three years and 11 months in prison for disrupting the work of a penal colony. On February 16, the Supreme Court of Chechnya overturned Musayeva's sentence and, at the prosecutor's request, sent the case back for a new trial. Musayeva will await the new trial in a pretrial detention center.

Zarema Musayeva's detention has been extended until March 5, 2026. She is receiving treatment in a pretrial detention facility, a representative of the "Team Against Torture"* told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In court, Musayeva supported the defense's appeal. "Therefore, she welcomed the overturning of the sentence, but would also like an acquittal—a release. The defense welcomes the court's decision to overturn the sentence, but would like their appeals to be fully satisfied," he emphasized.

The court has not yet set a date for a new hearing on the merits, added the CPT representative*. "Upon receipt of a case against a person in custody, (a hearing is scheduled) no later than 14 days from the date of receipt. However, at the scheduled hearing, issues related to the preventive measure are decided, then the court schedules a hearing on the merits, and then everything is at its discretion," he explained.

Zarema Musayeva's lawyers have not yet received the court's decision, and therefore are not familiar with all the arguments set out in the prosecutor's statement. The human rights activist noted that the prosecutor "essentially supported the defense's arguments in the oral arguments," stating in the oral arguments that the court did not evaluate any of them.

The formal overturning of the sentence may be an attempt to worsen the situation for the political prisoner, according to Oleg Orlov*, co-chair of Memorial. He noted that while the trial is ongoing, “no talk of parole” is possible, so Musayeva will remain in pretrial detention for a long time.

“If there are contradictions in the evidence, then, by and large, there is no serious evidence of guilt. In an adversarial trial, the sentence should be overturned and the person acquitted. But instead, the case is sent back for further investigation to ‘resolve the contradictions.’ This is a vile practice: the investigation can ‘find’ missing motives (for example, political hatred), which would ultimately lead to a harsher, rather than softer, sentence. If the sentence had been upheld, the lawyers could have sought her transfer to another penal colony and begun the parole process. Now that door is closed,” Memorial’s Telegram channel* quotes Orlov* as saying.

Alexandra Miroshnikova, press secretary for the SK SOS crisis group*, noted that for the first time in Musayeva’s trials, the prosecutor did not uphold the decision of the previous court. She also doubted that the decision to overturn the sentence was motivated by “a desire for a fair trial.”

"Zarema Musayeva's case was not just fabricated from the start, it was grossly fabricated. This may be due to an attempt to feign a fair trial. Most likely, after the review, little will change in Zarema Musayeva's case," she stated. 1 .

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 Yangulbayev family of organizing a terrorist network and stated that their place awaited them "in prison or underground."

You can read about Kadyrov's conflict with the Yangulbayevs in the "Caucasian Knot" reports "How the Yangulbayevs Became Kadyrov's Enemies" and "The Main Thing About Kadyrov's Struggle with the Yangulbayevs".

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.