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).
Today, the Rostov District Military Court found journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev guilty and sentenced him to 17 years in prison. The other defendants, Kemal Tambiev and Abubakar Rizvanov, received 17.5 and 18 years in prison, respectively.
The editor of the “Religion” section of the Dagestan newspaper “Chernovik” Abdulmumin Gadzhiev and the other defendants in the case were tried under articles of “participation in the activities of terrorist organizations” and “financing terrorism.” According to investigators, the journalist published articles about the Ansar charity foundation and did not mention that part of the money collected was sent to the Islamic State (banned in the Russian Federation). The examinations found no signs of justifying terrorism in Hajiyev’s articles, and prosecution witnesses spoke in favor of the defendants.
Earlier, the Memorial Human Rights Center recognized Abdulmumin Gadzhiev as a political prisoner. Human rights activists have repeatedly stated that the criminal case was falsified.