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 military appeal court in Vlasikha (Moscow region) confirmed the sentence of Crimean Tatar, Arabic language expert Ismet Ibragimov - 19 years in a maximum security colony. He was found guilty of participating in the political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation.
“Under this auspices of the fight against terrorism, the activities of human rights activists and religious leaders are actually imprisoned and suppressed. This is in addition to the huge number of procedural violations during the investigation and during the trial,” lawyer Emil Kurbedinov commented on the court decision. He plans to appeal it in cassation, and then appeal to international authorities.
In Ibragimov's case there are no indications of specific terrorist acts. According to investigators, in March 2018, he organized a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell in the Simferopol region, led it, conducted propaganda and attracted new supporters. This organization operates legally in Ukraine and other countries in Europe and the world, and no one is persecuting its members.