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).
In Crimea, security forces in balaclavas kidnapped Crimean Tatar Rustem Ababullaev. The detention is due to the fact that he posted a photo of the Ukrainian flag on his VKontakte page. This was reported by the "Tribunal. Crimean episode."
Without introducing themselves, two people in civilian clothes and balaclavas twisted Ababullaev’s hands, searched him, demanded his name, and put him in a car. He was subsequently forced to apologize on video.
“These actions have signs of a war crime against the civilian population. And together with the dissemination of personal data, humiliation and trial, they constitute an episode of a crime against humanity for the persecution of a group of people on the basis of ideological beliefs,” the "Tribunal. Crimean episode" noted.