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).
97% of respondents would choose the current head of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the post of president, 1.2% - deputy Zahid Oruj, and 0.7% - deputy Fazil Mustafa. These are the results of a survey conducted by the American organization ORACLE ADVISORY GROUP together with the League for the Protection of Labor Rights of Citizens on the eve of the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.
It is also noteworthy that 85.4% of respondents consider Azerbaijan a safe country to live in, unlike other unstable states in the region. Extraordinary presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held on February 7.
Earlier, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) criticized the Azerbaijani authorities. The report states that all presidential candidates have openly supported the president in the recent past. None of the main non-parliamentary opposition parties are participating in the elections, and one of them is boycotting them.
The authors of the document note that numerous arrests of journalists and activists have occurred in Azerbaijan over the past three months.