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 Nalchik garrison court sentenced mobilized Islam Margushev to five years in prison. According to investigators, the man left the military unit in December 2022 and was found at his place of residence in April of this year.
The serviceman’s defense stated that during the specified period he was in the “North Military District” zone in Ukraine, but the certificate issued by the military registration and enlistment office turned out to be erroneous and was refuted by the command.
Another serviceman from the KBR, Ruslan Yunusov, also received five and a half years in prison. In December 2022, he left the temporary deployment point on the territory of Ukraine and was detained in January 2023. Despite serving in the SVO zone and promises to continue it again, the appeal court upheld the verdict.