A friend of Seda Suleimanova was detained at a picket in St. Petersburg.

Security forces in St. Petersburg detained Lena Patyaeva, a friend of kidnapped Chechen native Seda Suleimanova, who was holding a picket outside a police station. The activist claimed that officers at the station "delivered Suleimanova to her death."

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," Lena Patyaeva is a friend of Seda Suleimanova and the organizer of a campaign demanding an investigation into her disappearance. Security forces have repeatedly detained her for public actions related to the Suleimanova case: in August, the activist held a solo picket for four hours near the Akhmat Kadyrov Bridge, after which she was taken to the police station. In April, Patyaeva received 20 hours of community service for a picket on the same bridge. In March, Lena Patyaeva held a picket in Grozny. There, she was also taken to the police station, but released without a report.

Lena Patyaeva held a picket today outside the 54th Krasnoselsky District Police Department, where Seda Suleimanova was taken in August 2023, immediately before her abduction and forced return to Chechnya. She held a sign reading, "You gave her over to her death. Live with it," the "Word in Defense" project reported on its Telegram channel.

Patyaeva managed to hold the picket outside the department for about 40 minutes before being detained. The activist was taken to a different police station, the 42nd, located in the same Krasnoselsky District. Patyaeva is accused of violating Article 20.2 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting), the SOS* Crisis Group reported.

Patyaeva timed her picket to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is celebrated today.

The "Caucasian Knot" also reported that in August, an investigator offered Patyaeva, who is a witness in the case of Seda Suleimanova's disappearance, a polygraph test in Chechnya. In September, Patyaeva and her lawyer attended the test, but refused because most of the questions prepared by the investigator were unrelated to Lena's previous testimony or the investigation into Seda's disappearance.

* is listed as a foreign agent.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.