A 26-year-old Chechen woman might have become a victim of an ‘honour killing’

Seda Suleymanova, a 26-year-old native of Chechnya, may have been killed by her family, as reported to the NC SOS Crisis team by two independent sources from Chechnya.

Information about the possible ‘honour killing’ of Seda was obtained earlier this month. Today, on February 6, the NC SOS team filed a statement to the authorities demanding an urgent investigation.

Seda had fled her home in Chechnya after a conflict with her family, who tried to force her into marriage. With the help of the NC SOS team, she managed to move to St. Petersburg. In August 2023, police officers and law enforcement officials from Chechnya entered her apartment. They falsely accused Seda of theft and took her to Chechnya, where she was interrogated and then handed over to her family.

Due to public attention chechen authorities tried to pretend that everything is fine with Seda. . The ombudsman of Chechnya posted a photo of Seda, in which she looked exhausted. Later, he also posted a video of him walking with Seda, stating that she is ‘in a good mood.’ Seda herself does not speak a word in this video. After that, nothing has been heard about her for over 150 days.

‘Honour killing,’ or ‘shame killing,’ is defined by Human Rights Watch as an act of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against relatives who are perceived to have brought dishonour upon the family.