The Chechen Ombudsman published a video with the kidnapped wife of the ex-judge Yangulbaev, the woman’s son called the video “hell”

Chechen Ombudsman Mansur Soltaev published posted a video on Instagram with Zarema Musayeva, the wife of retired judge Saydi Yangulbaev, who was kidnapped yesterday from her apartment in Nizhny Novgorod and taken to Chechnya for interrogation. The woman in the video says that they did not use violence against her, they bought medicines and “pricked” her.

In the post, Soltaev writes: “Today I met with Zarema Musayeva, who was brought in by law enforcement officers to testify as a witness in a fraud case. He made sure that in relation to her all the norms of the law were observed. Zarema Musayeva herself said that she received the necessary medicines and nothing threatened her life and health. I note that in this situation we do not see anything unusual.

Musayeva’s son, a former lawyer of the Committee against Torture (CPT, in 2015, after the Ministry of Justice entered the register of foreign agents, the organization was liquidated, now the CPT operates under the same name without forming a legal entity) Abubakar Yangulbaev said that he “has no words.” “This is pure hell… I don’t believe that this can happen in Russia,” Znak.com quotes him as saying. Yangulbaev stressed that he knows his mother well and it is obvious to him that she is shown on the video “in a very serious condition and simply no.”

Recall about the kidnapping of Zarema from the family’s apartment in Nizhny Novgorod became known the day before. According to the woman’s relatives, strong guys who spoke Chechen broke into the apartment, they beat Saydi and took Zarema somewhere without taking either her outerwear or insulin (she is diabetic). Abubakar Yangulbaev accused the Chechen security forces of kidnapping his mother. According to him, he turned to the Investigative Committee of Russia.

Later, the head of the ChGTRK Grozny, Chingiz Akhmadov, published an investigation on his Telegram channel, alleging that the Yangulbaev family was connected to the opposition ADAT Telegram channel.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, when asked about this story today, said that he had seen reports of the kidnapping in the press, but did not know whether they were reliable, and called it all “fantastic”. He also stressed that dealing with this situation is not the prerogative of the Kremlin. The spokesman noted that the presidential administration prefer not to believe such reports without any confirmation.

Saidi Yangulbaev recorded a video message to Peskov and confirmed the information about the kidnapping of his wife Zarema.

Then the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, stated in his Telegram channel that the Yangulbaev family “has no concept of honor and dignity” and that “a place either in prison or underground” awaits them. According to him, “not a single self-respecting person will sit in the channel and meekly listen to how selective curses and insults humiliate his entire nation and, moreover, will not help these scoundrels earn money on donations.”

In his post, Kadyrov also reports that Zarema Musayeva, after being taken to the capital of Chechnya, “attacked a police officer and almost deprived him of an eye” and “has already earned herself an article for a real prison term.” The head of Chechnya considers the detention itself “legal and agreed upon.”

Zarema Musaeva and Saydi Yangulbaev are being witnessed in a fraud case. In the Yangulbaev family, the incident is attributed to the fact that the family criticizes Kadyrov’s policies.

In September last year, the Soviet Court of Nizhny Novgorod fined Igor Kalyapin, head of the interregional public organization “Committee against Torture” and a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, 10,000 rubles. As specified RBC, Kalyapin was found guilty under the article on participation in the activities of an undesirable organization (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

“I really understand perfectly why I became the object of this attack. Over the past year, I have harshly criticized both the work of the Investigative Committee and the work of the prosecutor’s office, ”Kalyapin said.

An administrative case against Kalyapin was opened at the end of July. He was accused of collaborating with the Czech non-governmental organization Man in Need (described as undesirable in Russia), Novaya Gazeta reported, citing case materials. According to the publication, the documents in the case contained screenshots of publications from the Committee against Torture website dated 2015, 2016 and 2017 with a mention of the Czech organization. However, then it was not yet recognized as undesirable, the newspaper points out.

Kalyapin, after initiating an administrative case, stated that the ultimate goal of the investigation was to initiate a criminal case against him. The “Committee against Torture” was recognized in 2015 by the Ministry of Justice as an NPO acting as a foreign agent, after which the legal entity self-liquidated. In 2016, the CPT was also recognized as a foreign agent, after which human rights activists began to operate under the same name, but without forming a legal entity.