A member of “Artpodgotovka” has disappeared in Georgia – he may be in a Russian pre-trial detention center

Artpodgotka activist Rafail Shepelev has disappeared in Georgia. Now he can be in a Russian pre-trial detention center. This is reported by the human rights project “First Department”.

According to human rights activists, on October 12, Shepelev left his home in Tbilisi and disappeared. His personal belongings remained at home. Shepelev’s associates said that he had been living in Georgia since September 2021 and had no plans to return to Russia.

Human rights activists discovered that the next day after his disappearance, a court in Vladikavkaz arrested Shepelev under an administrative article on petty hooliganism. According to human rights activists, after his release, the activist was sent to a pre-trial detention center on charges of terroristic orientation.

The project notes that administrative arrest on a pretext before detention in a criminal case is a common practice.

• Recently, a similar case occurred in Kyrgyzstan. Activist Lev Skoryakin stopped communicating, and two weeks later he was found in a Moscow pre-trial detention center. According to the lawyers, he was tortured there. In Russia, Skoryakin faces seven years in prison in a criminal case of hooliganism due to the “Happy Chkist Day” action that he held at the FSB building in Moscow in December 2021.