Seda Suleymanova's friend detained in Grozny

Chechen security forces detained Lena Patyaeva, a friend of Seda Suleymanova, who held a solo picket in Grozny demanding an investigation into Suleymanova's murder.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on November 27, 2025, the Krasnoselsky District Court of St. Petersburg considered Lena Patyaeva's solo picket a repeated violation of public event regulations and sentenced her to 10 days of arrest. During a call with a friend on November 29, the activist complained about bedbugs in the detention center and poor food quality. On December 2, Patyaeva reported that police tried to see "signs of extremism" in the text of her poster.

Lena Patyaeva again held a solo picket in Grozny, at the monument to journalists who died for freedom of speech, demanding an investigation into her friend's murder, the project "Word for Protection" reported today. The picket is timed to the third anniversary of Seda Suleymanova's abduction.

Chechen security forces detained her, the publication states.

According to a photo attached to the message, Patyaeva held a picket with a poster saying "I demand an investigation into the murder of Seda Suleymanova."

"Exactly three years ago, my friend, Seda Suleymanova, was forcibly taken from St. Petersburg to Grozny, after which she disappeared. I believe that someone from her family killed her with the silent complicity of the other relatives. She told me herself that this could happen if she was caught. She screamed in hysteria, 'They will kill me,' when the police came for her at her boyfriend's apartment. According to human rights defenders, she is dead. According to those who wrote to me — she is dead. Even the Investigative Committee opened a case under the article 'murder'," Patyaeva wrote in her Telegram channel "Where is Seda?".

Patyaeva noted that despite periods when she felt like giving up, she is not going to surrender. "I have not forgotten and will not forget. No matter how much time passes, I will remember. Today my task is to annoy those who want to forget Seda, to erase her from history as if she never existed. No, they will not succeed. They killed her, but it is not in their power to erase her memory," she stated.

Lena Patyaeva is a friend of Seda Suleymanova and the organizer of the campaign demanding an investigation into her disappearance. Security forces have repeatedly detained her for public actions related to Suleymanova's case: in August 2025, the activist stood for four hours in a solo picket at the Akhmat Kadyrov bridge, after which she was taken to the police station, and in April, for a picket at the same bridge, Patyaeva received 20 hours of community service.

In March 2025, Lena Patyaeva held a picket in Grozny, where she was also taken to the police, but released without a protocol. Meanwhile, Grozny security forces called Suleymanova's fate a "family matter".

In April 2024, it became known that the Investigative Committee is investigating Seda Suleymanova's disappearance under the murder article. In January 2025, Patyaeva complained to the Prosecutor General's Office about the inaction of the investigation, stating that for 10 months the investigation yielded no results. On June 16, 2025, it became known that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia announced Seda Suleymanova wanted. The appearance of a wanted card in the Ministry of Internal Affairs database indicates rather an imitation of activity, human rights defenders pointed out.