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).
After the appeal of the “Team Against Torture”, the Supreme Court of Chechnya sent a complaint to the lower court against the investigator’s refusal to initiate a criminal case for torture against the former actor of the Grozny Russian Drama Theater Timur Debishev. In Chechnya, investigators 13 times refused to charge police officers under the article of abuse of power with the use of violence.
According to Debishev, in 2018, security forces found in his mobile phone the number of a drug trafficking suspect. The actor was detained, beaten and tortured with electric shock. At the Republican Hospital, Debishev was diagnosed with multiple hematomas on his body, and a medical expert determined that he had injuries caused by electric current.
Recently, the European Court ruled to pay Debishev compensation in the amount of 52 thousand euros.