Woman who fled Chechnya arrested in Petersburg, handed over to relatives in Grozny

A 26-year-old woman from Chechnya, Seda Suleymanova, who was jailed in St. Petersburg, has been handed over to relatives in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, without an opportunity to consult lawyers, reports human rights group SK SOS.

Lawyers traveled to Grozny and tried to locate Suleymanova in two police departments after St. Petersburg police said that she would be handed over to law enforcement in Grozny.

At the police department in Grozny’s Akhmatovsky district, lawyers were told that Suleymanova would arrive in the evening, but they were ultimately unable to meet with her. SK SOS says that the young woman was interrogated as a suspect in a criminal case involving theft, and was then handed over to an aunt and uncle. Her lawyers say that Suleimanova was forced to write a refusal of legal services. 

Suleymanova was arrested in Petersburg on August 23. According to her partner, Stanislav Kudryavtsev, several men stopped him outside their home in the evening, as he was returning from work. Two of them men introduced themselves as police officers and showed identification, while another two were “Chechens in civilian dress.” They showed Kudryavtsev a photo of Suleymanova and forced him to open his apartment door, after which they took both Suleymanova and Kudryavtsev to the police station.

The police said that Suleymanova was suspected of stealing jewelry worth 150,000 rubles (around $1,580). Suleymanova denies the allegations. Kudryavtsev was later released, but Suleymanova, according to law enforcement officials, was taken to the airport. Lawyers were unable to locate her at Pulkovo airport.

Human rights advocates fear that in Chechnya, Suleymanova could become the victim of an “honor killing” by members of her family.

Suleymanova fled Chechnya, where her family considered her “insufficiently religious.” In February 2023, relatives tried to kidnap her. Human rights advocates, to whom she turned for help, say that at that time she was taken away by her brothers but managed to escape. After that, she changed jobs and residences but remained in St. Petersburg.