Russian police detain women picketing in support of abducted Chechen friend

Russian police detain women picketing in support of abducted Chechen friend

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The Saint Petersburg police have detained Lena Patyaeva, a friend of Seda Suleymanova, a Chechen woman believed to have been abducted by her family. Patyaeva was holding a picket demanding answers for the whereabouts of Suleymanova.

Patyaeva was holding her picket on the Akhmat Kadyrov Bridge in Saint Petersburg when she was detained. She was holding a banner reading ‘Where is Seda Suleymanova? In 10 months, the Chechen Investigative Committee has failed to find her, either alive or dead’.

She was detained almost three hours into her picket, allegedly for violating COVID-19 regulations — a common charge used by Russian police to disperse opposition actions and rallies or prevent them from taking place. The same restrictions do not apply to mass events organised by state structures.

At around 20:00, the human rights project OVD-Info reported that Patyaeva remained in police custody overnight, unaware of the charges pressed against her. The project said that the police could only keep her in their custody for up to three hours.

The following day, representatives of human rights organisation NC SOS Crisis Group told OС Media that Patyaeva’s lawyer was barred from meeting with her, and that she was transferred to a different police station for unknown reasons.

According to her lawyer, Mark Alekseev, Pataeva was charged with organising an uncoordinated public action. However, Russian legislation states that solitary pickets do not require approval.

Suleymanova was allegedly abducted from her flat in Saint Petersburg in August 2023, and subsequently detained at a police station on suspicion of stealing jewellery. According to the NC SOS Crisis Group, which has been involved with the case since its beginnings, Suleymanova was subsequently handed over to her uncle and aunt, and she has since not been in contact with the group or her friends.

Suleymanova had reportedly fled Chechnya to live with her partner, and avoid pressure and the restriction of her rights from her family.

In September, Chechnya’s Human rights Commissioner Mansur Soltaev, stated that Sulaymanova was alive and with her family, publishing a video that purported to show his meeting with her. In the video, where the original audio has been replaced with music, Suleymanova is seen walking with Soltaev, wearing a long black dress and headscarf.

Soltaev has been sanctioned by the US, the EU, and Ukraine, with Washington citing his reported association with human rights violations and abuses.

In early February of last year, the Crisis Group reported that it had received information about Suleymanova’s possible murder from two sources.

In recent months, Patyaeva has been conducting a series of solitary protests at the Prosecutor’s Office in Saint Petersburg.

Earlier in January, Patyaeva sent complaints to the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, criticising the lack of progress made in the investigation into Suleymanova’s possible murder.

The authorities have also not launched investigations into the police officers who reportedly took part in her abduction from Saint Petersburg to Chechnya.

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OC MediaElizaveta Chukharova