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 handed down a verdict in the case of three former employees of the Anti-Terrorist Center of Chechnya - Rustam Buluyev, Ruslan Namatov and Artur Ushaev. They were sentenced to terms ranging from 21 to 24 years on charges of banditry, murder and terrorism.
The court found that the defendants were part of a gang that had carried out a terrorist attack in Znamenskoye village in July 2005. They parked a mined «UAZ», which contained the body of a man dressed in the uniform of a federal soldier. One of the defendants then fired several shots at the vehicle to attract the attention of law enforcement officials and local residents. After the car was packed with security and civilians, there was an explosion. As a result, 11 authorities were killed, as well as 4 civilians, 10 other authorities and 26 civilians were injured.