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| Prosecutor's office called Suleymanova's return to Chechnya voluntary |
| 2024-02-13 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [KavkazUzel] After checking the statement about Seda Suleymanova’s detention by Chechen security forces, the prosecutor’s office stated that the girl voluntarily left for the republic from St. Petersburg, human rights activists reported. As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on August 23, 2023, security forces came to 26-year-old Seda Suleymanova and her fiance, who fled from Chechnya to St. Petersburg, and detained them, explaining that the girl was suspected of stealing jewelry. Then the young man was released, and the girl was sent to Grozny, where she was interrogated as a witness in a theft case and handed over to her uncle and aunt. The lawyers were not allowed to meet with the client, citing her refusal of their services. On October 20, Suleymanova’s fiancé Stanislav Kudryavtsev announced that he had converted to Islam and asked to meet with her, but received no response from the girl’s relatives. Nothing has been known about Seda Suleymanova’s fate for 150 days, her friend said on February 1 at a picket near the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office. Seda Suleymanova turned to human rights activists back in October 2022 because she was afraid that her family might commit an “honor killing,” since her relatives from Grozny were not satisfied with her lack of religiosity. In January 2023, Seda found a job and decided to stay in St. Petersburg. In February of the same year, her relatives already tried to kidnap her, but she managed to escape. After this, Seda changed her job and address, but remained in St. Petersburg, where she was detained in August. Human rights activists received a response from the prosecutor's office to a statement in which they asked to check the actions of the security forces who took Seda Suleymanova and the fact of her disappearance, the SOS Crisis Group reported today. “The application was filed in August 2023 [immediately after the lawyers were unable to find Seda at the police station in Grozny. The prosecutor’s office began an investigation only after hundreds of applications demanding an investigation into the abduction. However, there are many oddities in the prosecutor’s response: no police officers are mentioned, nor detention,” says a publication on the telegram channel of the human rights organization. According to the response from the prosecutor's office, Seda Suleymanova was summoned for questioning and voluntarily went to Grozny to give evidence, after which she went to her family. “As noted in the document, “preventive measures or procedural coercion, including detention and bringing” were not used against Seda. That is, according to the prosecutor’s office, the St. Petersburg police did not force Seda to go to Chechnya. Moreover, the prosecutor’s office claims, that there is no evidence of Seda’s involvement in the criminal case for which she was brought to Chechnya,” the publication notes. The version of the prosecutor's office contradicts the words of Suleymanova's fiancé Stanislav, human rights activists pointed out. The publication quotes his words: “They put me in front of the peephole of the apartment, and when Seda opened the door, they immediately burst in. She fell to the floor, shook in shock, cried, said that they would kill her at home. She called it an “honor killing.” ". Women whose behavior is considered a disgrace by their relatives may become victims of “honor killings” in the Caucasus. These murders are committed by relatives themselves, most often a father or brother, says the Caucasian Knot report “ Honor Killings in the North Caucasus.” In addition, there is a video recording of a conversation between lawyer Seda Suleymanova and St. Petersburg police officers, who reported that the girl was taken away by security forces from Chechnya. However, the prosecutor's office "did not take into account the video recording, the witness's testimony and the lack of an arrest report," the publication states. “The lawyers will appeal the decision of the prosecutor’s office. In addition, two more applications were filed: to the Investigative Committee and to the prosecutor’s office regarding the possible murder of Seda,” the statement says. Let us recall that on February 7, the SOS Crisis Group reported that two sources in Chechnya voiced a version of the murder of Seda Suleymanova by relatives. Human rights activists demanded that the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office check information about a possible "honor killing", noting that "nothing has been heard about Suleymanova for more than 150 days." The long absence of information about the fate of Seda Suleymanova does not give reason to believe that she was killed, experts familiar with the realities of Chechnya told the Caucasian Knot. “Honor killings” are not committed for lack of religiosity; the relatives could limit themselves to isolating the girl, they explained. Earlier, on August 29, 2023, the Ombudsman of Chechnya, Mansur Soltaev, in a report on a meeting with Seda Suleymanova, stated that the girl was not in danger and was safe. Human rights activists then noted that Soltaev did not publish a video of the conversation, but only a photo in which a mark similar to a hematoma was visible on the girl’s neck. On September 4, 2023, Mansur Soltaev announced a return visit to Suleymanova. According to him, the girl met him in a good mood and did not express any complaints. At the same time, in the short video that Soltaev published, Suleymanova simply accompanies him to the gate, and music is superimposed on the video. |
| Posted by:badanov |