"Is Seda Suleimanov alive?" Human rights activists turned to the UK because of the "murder of honor"

Human rights activists from the organization of SOS SOS believe that the native of Chechnya Seda Suleimanov, stolen on August 23, 2023 from St. Petersburg, is "most likely dead." They submitted an application to the Investigative Committee of Russia with a request to check the family who stole Suleimanov on the fact of "murder of honor." The correspondent of the North. Realia learned how friends and human rights activists were looking for and did not find her.

On February 1, the close friend of Sedya Suleimanova Elena Patyaeva went to the building of the prosecutor's office in St. Petersburg and deployed a poster with the inscription: "Is Seda Suleimanov alive? No one has seen her 150 days."

150 days ago, the Ombudsman of Chechnya Mansur Soltaev posted a video with a living gray -haired Suleimanova. Since then, no one has seen her, there is no information about her.

It is not known whether the Patyeva picket worked, but in the evening of the same day, in the hands of the crisis group SOS, there were new data on the case of a stolen Chechen ( SK SOS are engaged in the help of LGBTK+ people and members of their families, as well as those who have been faced with life danger, persecution and violence in the North Caucasus. - SR ).

Human rights activists admit that they underestimated the situation. Seda Suleimanova does not have a father, but there is a brother and uncle. So, when she escaped from Chechnya, the chase did not wait. This turned out to be a mistake.

I was afraid to harm the family

Seda Suleimanova was born in Grozny in 1997. Her childhood was difficult: the girl’s father died in 1999 in a column of Chechen refugees, fired by Russian troops, Suleimanova grew in a religious conservative environment with her brother and family family. After school, she graduated from a medical college and worked as a barista in Grozny.

At 18, relatives told Sede that they looked at her groom and she had to get married. The so -called "contractual marriages" are still widespread in some regions of the North Caucasus, three sisters of Seda have already been given this way - they were from 15 to 18 years old. For her, according to her, they began to crush a lot: her mother forbade her to walk after work, regularly searched her things and checked the phone.

In 2022, Seda decided to escape from her relatives and contacted a lawyer from SK SOS. Then she received from new friends a name, which henceforth called herself - Said.

- She had a very strange relationship with her family. She was ready to cut off her connection with her, to escape from her, because she was very limited, besides, she was afraid of relatives. But at the same time, she was always afraid and harm them, this is such frequent ambivalence when people want to run away, but are not ready for any criminal cases so as not to harm the family. It is important for her to live a free life so that she was not beaten, not threatened, not limited, but she was not ready to apply to the police, ”says Alena from SK SOS (the name was changed for security reasons. - SR ).

The first time they met a year ago.

- A positive girl who wants to live herself, with whom she wants. Inquisitive, enlightened, is interested in painting, music, ”says Alena.

Another employee, Rita (the name was changed for security reasons. - SR ), helping Suleimanova, says that Seda/Saida understood what she needed to do, she did not look confused.

-She makes a very pleasant impression, but it was difficult for her to decide on something, she just really wanted to live freely and calmly. And she needed a quiet life not locked up, let’s say, although quite traditional, ”adds Rita.

According to the employees of the SOS SOS, she lived in St. Petersburg in a safe place for about three months, in December 2022 she got a job in a coffee shop. Friends began to appear, and in January 2023 she decided to live on her own, refused the help of SK SOS and settled in an apartment with a new friend Lena Patyeva.

"We will find you anyway"

Seda has a cousin Ahmad Bataev, in February last year he came to her coffee shop. She collided with him in the doorway when she went out to smoke.

He made her return to the cafe and began to threaten her. His words remained in the video.

“You will disgrace us with this act. Where are you now living? Name your address! Wherever you move, we will connect local law enforcement agencies, or Moscow, it doesn’t matter if we will find you anyway. I will inform you now that we find you to stop the search,” said Sede Ahmad.

She was able to escape only thanks to a random visitor. On the same night, taking advantage of the help of passers -by, Seda contacted SOS SOS, who took her to a safe place.

- After the kidnapping attempt, we invited her to leave Russia, but she was not ready for this: her life was scared in another culture, in another country. She was offered serious options, but she was afraid to be left alone in an unfamiliar environment, she got into Peter and did not want to move anywhere further: she found work, friends, everyone speaks in an understandable language, - the human rights activists explain.

New life

While Seda was in a safe place, she met Stanislav Kudryavtsev on the Internet. Soon, according to him, they had a serious relationship . Stas helped her to find a new job - a dogiteter.

From May 1, 2023, they began to live together, and in August they planned to play a wedding. Seda hoped that this would help her settle the conflict with relatives. But, apparently, this only worsened the situation.

- We had not just a desire to officially sign, there was an intention to live together for a long time, to love each other. She is familiar with my parents, with her grandmother. We thought about having a child after the wedding. And then it happened on August 23 ( the abduction of Seda.-SR), which is why I am still in a state of shock, ” said Stas Caucasus. Realiy.

The acquaintances of Stas say that he is in despair and no longer believes that his seda is alive, he refused to communicate with the correspondent of the North.

Abduction

On the evening of August 23, 2023, two policemen from St. Petersburg and two Chechens in civilian clothes stopped near the entrance of Stanislav’s house. He was taken from him, call Sede, who was in the apartment, he could not. They both were detained.

“It is not clear why Stas was detained, because there was a formal reason that Seda was supposedly suspected of theft in Chechnya - although she was in St. Petersburg at the time of this alleged theft,” says Lucy Stein project manager SOS SOS. - So, he was released, and she was allegedly taken to Pulkovo. We immediately wrote about it. Because in fact it was handed over to the Chechens and transported to Grozny.

After that, Suleimanov was suddenly transferred to the status of a witness, interrogated and immediately handed over to relatives. Lawyers were sent to Grozny immediately, but it was too late.

-This is a debugged scheme, in the Caucasus more than once they turned the abductions: they allegedly suspect in some business, interrogated as a witness and give them to anyone. So it was with Idris Arsamikov, who was accused of fraud, with Leila Goryeva , also accused of theft, so with four sisters who fled from Dagestan to Georgia, says Stein.

Human rights activists from the SOS SOS tried to free them through pressure to the prosecutor’s office, which was filled with statements about the fate of the abducted girl. The answer was the same: your statement was redirected to the Chechen prosecutor's office. And the Chechen prosecutor’s office answered everyone that the answer could be given only to the relatives and friends of Suleimanova. In the IC of the Russian Federation, the criminal case of the abduction of Seda was refused.

Although the effect of the media lighting of the Suleimanov case was still: the Ombudsman of Chechnya Mansur Soltaev took up this matter.

He published a photo of Seda in a scarf. And a few days later I recorded a video where she passes with him in the yard. And he wrote that everything is in order with her.

- Seda is coming and is silent. Usually, the abducted forces themselves to say that, they say, "everything is fine with me, leave me alone." And then she was not even forced to say anything, apparently, she resisted until the last, ”says Stein.

Stas, along with human rights activists of the SOS SOS, continued to fight for her.

-We never had this so that the girl had someone behind her, that she was not alone in this situation. And there is, he is not a Chechen, but Russian, ”explains David Isteev, director of the SOS SOS. - Stas actively participated in legal actions, and we hoped for resonance by society, because sometimes, when there is resonance, relatives are lagging behind.

- Stas even accepted Islam, wanted to get married, we tried to agree with Seda's family, it seemed to us that he could achieve a blessing for traditional relationships, marriage, family. But none of this happened - because he is Russian. Although his family even found distant Chechen relatives, no matter what side we tried to go, nothing happened, ”says Stein.

Alive or not?

Then the noise around the story of Seda fell silent. Her friends hoped that relatives would weaken control over her and she would be able to get in touch with them.

- There were situations when the girls disappeared for a long time, and then they still got in touch. For example, Aminat Lorsanov . After an unsuccessful attempt to escape with her, there was no connection for about six months. We thought that she was killed, but she got in touch, and she managed to evacuate, ”the human rights activists say. - There was a story of Rizvan Dadaev, with whom in 2022 a video appeared, where the Kadyrovites interrogated him, clearly beaten. He was caught on a fake date. Then he also disappeared, but in the end he was still able to take him out - after torture in the police department, he got in touch.

In mid -November, SOS SOS managed to get her photographs from Seda's relatives. "What was she when she was brought now, compare!" - wrote her relatives.

Seda's family very aggressively react to any attempt to establish contact and did everything so that nothing could be found out about the fate of Suleimanova. In this state of affairs, it is impossible to guarantee that the gray is alive, they think in the SOS SK, so they applied to the UK with a statement.

- “Murder of honor” is a fairly common story. There are proven cases when death can be verified by facts, but there are very few of them. Usually nothing is documented. We checked whether the seda is alive officially - it is listed. There is no death act, but in our case this does not mean anything. There is a practice in Chechnya: if a person "disgraced his family", then he does not deserve to be buried. For example, there was a case with Gay, singer Zelimkhan Bakayev, whom the Kadyrovites ordered "to bury as a dog." And this "instillation as a dog" is very common. Excuses are also not made for religious reasons, ”the human rights activists explain.

One of them recently managed to contact one of the close relatives of Sedya Suleimanova on the phone. On the direct question "Where is the set?" He said: "Where is this whore? How is it dead? Yes, here it is lying here!" He was asked to call her to the phone, take a picture or take her on the video, but received a refusal.

The family of Suleimanova recently connected pro -government journalists. After long negotiations, they managed to get consent from Seda's relatives to talk with her personally, agreed on time, but at the last moment they also received a refusal.

This case further strengthened the human rights activists in suspicion that his seda was killed.

- Of course, we reflect, and everyone is looking for what we could make a mistake. But objectively - actors of violence are always to blame, and in this case, these are the Kadyrovites and the family of Seda. Nevertheless, on the one hand, I still have the hope that it can be alive, but on the other hand, according to the evidence, according to the experience and practice of such cases and especially considering that there is no connection with Sedoy for five months, I think that we have enough reason to believe that it is killed, ”says Lucy Stepin.

The Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya, Mansur Soltaev in September, took the Sedya situation "under personal control". North. Realiy sent him an official request with a request to comment on the state of the girl stolen in St. Petersburg. There is no answer yet.

Lena Patyaeva, who came out with a single picket on February 1, to draw attention to the cause of her disappeared girlfriend, said that she doubted a long time whether the noise around this story was needed. But in the end, I decided that the risk of silence is more.

- It is impossible to check whether she is alive or not, but still there is hope that if now we can talk about it, if my picket gives a resonance, then maybe her family will lay out a “classic” video, where she would say: “I'm alive, leave me alone.” We want to know if she is alive, says Patyaeva.

Director of SOS SOS David Isteev believes that submitting an application to the Investigative Committee for the Suleiman family is a logical action after all the searches undertaken.

- We need to understand the situation from the legal side and get an official answer. After what we learned, we had no choice but to declare the murder of a person.

- How much do you trust your sources?

- I trust two for sure. And I believe that it is also impossible to ignore the sources that I do not have full confidence: we are talking about human life. We made a sufficient pause and, having not received any information refuting the fact of the murder of Sedya Suleimanova, considered that it was time to contact the UK. I did not immediately make this decision, first I spoke with human rights activists. We consider this step true.

- Apparently, do you suspect Seda's relatives of killing honor? How often do they happen?

- No one leads statistics on them, such crimes are difficult to reveal - no evidence in such cases usually exists. But there are such killings.