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 Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction decided to drop charges against former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. He was accused of receiving a bribe of $3 million from a businesswoman. The statute of limitations on this case has expired.
Earlier, charges of overthrowing the constitutional order were dropped against Kocharyan. The case concerned clashes that took place in Yerevan in 2008. During the dispersal of the demonstration, 10 people were killed, including two police officers. More than 200 people were injured.
As part of the investigation, the Anti-Corruption Court, based on a statement from the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, seized the property of Kocharyan, his relatives and affiliates. It was about 20 units of real estate, two cars, deposits and securities worth $1.5 million, loans of 10 billion drams, shares in Armenian and foreign companies.
Let us recall that a month after the start of the “SVO”, the Hayastan political bloc, led by Kocharyan, condemned “flagrant manifestations of anti-Russian sentiment in some countries.”