Elena Patyaeva—a friend of Seda Suleymanova, who disappeared three years ago after being forcibly returned from St. Petersburg to Chechnya—was detained in Grozny. On August 23, Patyaeva stood by the monument to journalists who died for freedom of speech, holding a sign that read: "I demand an investigation into the murder of Seda Suleymanova." This was reported by the human rights project "Slovo Zashchite" (Word for the Defense).
The court in Simferopol extended the detention in pre-trial detention center of Ruslan Asanov, Remzi Nimetulaev, Abdulmedzhit Seitumerov and Eldar Yakubov. As lawyer Emil Kurbedinov noted, his clients are being held under arrest because they refused to incriminate themselves and admit to crimes they had not committed.
Crimean Tatars are accused of creating a terrorist organization and participating in it. Tatars are being tried under these articles in Crimea for their involvement in the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. It operates legally in Ukraine and other countries of the world. In the Russian Federation, alleged participants are sentenced to real terms on the basis that they met in apartments and read religious literature.