St. Petersburg police arrested a woman who fled Chechnya, and now human rights activists fear she could be returned by force and killed by her own family

Human rights activists at the crisis group SK SOS, which helps people escape persecution in Chechnya, say a woman has been abducted in St. Petersburg and will likely be returned to Chechnya, where she could be murdered by her own family. Project SK SOS told Meduza that police in St. Petersburg arrested a 26-year-old woman named Seda Suleymanova who fled Chechnya.

Suleymanova’s roommate Stanislav Kudryavtsev told activists that two men who identified themselves as police officers and another two Chechen plainclothes officers stopped him outside their home late on August 23 and showed him a photo of Suleymanova. The men reportedly ordered Kudryavtsev to open the door to their apartment and then brought the couple to a police station.

The officers said that Suleymanova is suspected of stealing jewelry worth 150,000 rubles ($1,600) — charges she denies, says Kudryavtsev. He was later released, but the authorities reportedly took Suleymanova to the airport. When attorney Mark Alekseev arrived at Pulkovo Airport, however, he couldn’t find Suleymanova, whose whereabouts are now unknown.

SK SOS activists say Suleymanova will likely be sent very soon to Chechnya or Dagestan, where she could be subjected to an “honor killing” by members of her own family. Her relatives already tried in February to kidnap her after she fled Chechnya, where her family considers her to be “insufficiently religious.” SK SOS, to whom Suleymanova appealed for help, told Meduza that her brothers abducted her, but she managed to escape. Afterward, Suleymanova changed her place of work and home address but remained in St. Petersburg.

Activists at SK SOS stress that abductions under the guise of fabricated criminal charges are a common practice Chechen officials use to return people by force. Seda Suleymanova does not appear on any public wanted lists in Russia.