Human rights defenders: police pretend to be searching for Seda Suleimanova
The appearance of a Seda Suleimanova’s wanted card in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) database actually only indicates that the law enforcement bodies are simulating their activities. When a criminal case is instituted, all active actions to search for a missing person are being carried out at the discretion of an investigator from the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).
The Russian MIA did not notify the persons who filed complaints demanding an investigation into the Seda Suleimanova’s disappearance about the motives for publicly declaring the young woman wanted. However, Elena Patyaeva, a Seda Suleimanova’s friend, believes the MIA’s decision is connected with the public campaign in support of Seda Suleimanova.
“I think that it was, in general, the media campaign to support Seda and, in particular, two campaigns – our completed campaign to collect signatures to the Russian presidential administration and the ongoing campaign of the ‘SK SOS Crisis Group’* and the ‘OVD-Info’* project to collect electronic signatures to the ICRF– as a result of which the Russian MIA has to demonstrate its allegedly active work on the case,” Elena Patyaeva told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
The activist drew attention to the fact that Seda Suleimanova had long been on the ICRF’s wanted list: back in 2024, the information about her was published in the missing persons sections on the websites of the ICRF’s Investigating Departments for Chechnya and Tatarstan. “I really didn’t know about the MIA’s decision until (June 16). In general, it seems to me that this is all more like an imitation of vigorous activity than something real, but we’ll see if there is any other reaction besides this.”
The human rights defender notes that now “in theory, nothing prevents the case from being transferred to the federal level,” but in fact, “it does not yet look like” that the federal investigative agencies “could dare to take the case away from the Ramzan Kadyrov’s associates.” “It seems to me that legal methods have no power here, and if anything helps to any degree, it is media and public pressure,” Elena Patyaeva explained.
The activist believes that the public can now participate in the search for Seda Suleimanova by posting wanted posters. “As far as I know, it is only prohibited to post posters in inappropriate places. Personally, I was accused of posting posters on the Kadyrov’s bridge. However, finally, I was not even fined for that,” the human rights defender stated.
Neither Elena Patyaeva nor the support group yet know exactly who came to the apartment of campaign activist Varvara Kosheleva and threatened her. “It is highly likely that those were ill-wishers who wanted to put pressure on her in such a way,” Elena Patyaeva noted.
In Russia, in case if a person is missed, the law enforcement bodies are to institute a search case. To launch an appropriate legal procedure, it is enough if an interested party files a complaint stating that a person has been missing for at least three days, Roman Melnichenko, an expert in international and Russian law, has explained to the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent. The search case is being conducted until the missing person is found and there is no evidence that he or she has become a victim of a crime. If the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) institutes a criminal case, the search case is to be terminated and all operational-and-search activities are to be conducted within the operational-and-search case.
“In our case, it is known that the criminal case has been instituted and the missing person has been declared wanted. As part of the opened criminal case, operational-and-search activities are being carried out, including declaring the person wanted. An investigator has the right to conduct questionings, make inquiries, and examine objects and documents. However, all those activities are being carried out at the discretion of the investigator,” lawyer Roman Melnichenko explained.
A person who filed a complaint about a crime may file a motion to be allowed to examine the materials of the investigation conducted by an investigator of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) as part of the operational-and-search case, Roman Melnichenko pointed out. The lawyer has emphasized that the ICRF’s Instruction on the procedure for considering complaints related to the disappearance of persons does not use the term “abducted or kidnapped,” but only “missing.” This term, as the lawyer explains, includes both abducted or kidnapped and murdered persons, if no dead body was found.
“If we consider the situation in the deep context of the legal environment in which Russia finds itself, then here we have a contradiction between, on the one hand, the custom that requires a father to wash away his daughter’s sins with her blood, and, on the other hand, between the ‘showcase Russian law’ and the canonical Muslim law, which gives a woman the right to choose her husband. However, in this situation, which is quite common, the Russian ‘shadow law’ will support regional traditions,” Roman Melnichenko believes.
This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 18, 2025 at 10:56 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.