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).
In the village of Krasnokamenka, Crimean Tatars Emil Nazarbekov and Arsen Dzhepparov were detained.
Security forces searched Nazarbekov's home, saying they were looking for drugs and weapons in the house. Nazarbekov is married to the sister of Refat Alimov, convicted in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. After the search, he was taken away in an unknown direction.
Dzhepparov was released from prison in April after serving his sentence in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. The security forces stopped him at the store, grabbed him, threw him to the ground and put a gun to his head, and then pushed him into a car.
The Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir was recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. Its participants are accused and sentenced to real terms only on the basis that they met in apartments, read religious literature and recruited new participants. According to the SOVA research center and the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”, the party was unlawfully recognized as terrorist in Russia.