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 criminal case against 19-year-old student from Volgograd Nikita Zhuravel was submitted for consideration to the Visaitovsky District Court of Grozny. The first meeting is scheduled for October 9.
The young man is accused of insulting the feelings of believers (Part 2 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code), as well as hooliganism due to religious hatred (Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, the student set fire to the Koran in early May on instructions from the SBU for a promised reward of 10 thousand rubles. He was immediately transferred to the Grozny pre-trial detention center by decision of the Russian authorities and with the approval of President Putin.
In August, Zhuravel was visited in a pre-trial detention center by Ramzan Kadyrov with his 15-year-old son Adam, and the latter beat him. A month later, Kadyrov Sr. posted a video of the beating. The Ministry of Internal Affairs refused to investigate the incident due to the fact that Adam Kadyrov is 15 years old and has not reached the age of criminal responsibility.