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 Southern District Military Court sentenced Chechen resident Alimkhan Musaev to 13 years in a maximum security colony. He was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (banditry), Art. 279 (armed rebellion) and art. 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attack on the life of a law enforcement officer).
According to investigators, Musaev, as part of the detachments of field commanders Shamil Basaev and Khattab, carried out attacks on federal military personnel in August 1999 on the outskirts of the village of Rakhata, Botlikh district of Dagestan. Human rights activists note that the criminal cases regarding participation in the detachments of Basayev and Khattab are of the same type, with the same witnesses, often secret.