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 Investigative Committee reported that it had identified more than 20 “active participants in mass riots” suspected in the case of the pogrom at Makhachkala airport at the end of October.
“As part of the criminal case, dozens of people who were present on the territory of the Uytash airport during the riots were questioned. Data from CCTV cameras, testimonies of witnesses and eyewitnesses, victims, including law enforcement officers, are being analyzed,” the Investigative Committee added.
On October 29, in Makhachkala, local residents broke into the airport runway after the arrival of a flight from Tel Aviv. They were reported to be looking for Israeli citizens who had flown in as part of a response to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Residents of Dagestan have collected more than 90 million rubles to help the Palestinians, the head of the republic Sergei Melikov said today. The imams of several cities and regions of Dagestan condemned the actions of the pogromists, but considered them an emotional reaction to events in the Middle East, they said in the appeal.