Prosecutor's office: Seda Suleymanova "voluntarily" returned to Chechnya

The St. Petersburg prosecutor's office has completed an investigation into the possible abduction of 26-year-old Seda Suleymanova, a native of Chechnya. The department said that the girl voluntarily went to Grozny for interrogation, and then, of her own free will, stayed with her family. This was reported by the crisis group SK SOS with reference to the official response of the department.

However, the document does not mention the fact that Suleymanova was detained by Chechen law enforcement officers in August 2023, human rights activists clarified.

The prosecutor's office confirmed that there was no evidence of Suleymanova's involvement in the theft of jewelry worth 150 thousand rubles, on the basis of which she was summoned for questioning. At the same time, the audit, according to prosecutors, showed that no “measures of suppression or procedural coercion, including detention and bringing,” were allegedly applied to Suleymanova.

Human rights activists stated that they intend to challenge the position of the prosecutor's office in court. In addition, they filed two applications to the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office about the possible murder of the girl.

Earlier, SOS Investigative Committee, citing two sources in Chechnya, reported that Suleymanova could have been killed by relatives.

Seda Suleymanova left Chechnya, fearing murder for “honor” reasons. In August 2023, with the support of law enforcement officers from the republic, she was kidnapped from her apartment in St. Petersburg and taken to Grozny.

In September, the human rights ombudsman in Chechnya, Mansur Soltaev, published a video of a meeting with Suleymanova, in which she does not say a word; Since then, no new information has been received about the girl.

• Suleymanova's fiancé, Stanislav Kudryavtsev, had previously converted to Islam, trying to obtain security guarantees for traveling to Chechnya and meeting his bride. These attempts were unsuccessful.
• On February 1, a friend of the abducted native of Chechnya, Lena Patyaeva, held a picket at the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office with a poster "Is Seda Suleymanova alive? No one has seen her for 150 days." The activist was detained and taken to the police, an administrative report was drawn up against her. In an interview with the website Kavkaz.Realii, Patyaeva spoke about Suleymanova’s life in St. Petersburg after escaping from her family.
• Those fleeing violence in the North Caucasus often face persecution from relatives. Law enforcement officers detain them - usually the reason is knowingly false accusations of crimes, after which their relatives forcibly take them back.