An activist who went missing in Georgia in October was found in a pre-trial detention center in Nizhny Tagil

Russian activist Rafail Shepelev, who went missing in Georgia in mid-October, is in a detention center in Nizhny Tagil. He was charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist organization and justifying terrorism. This is reported by the human rights project “First Department”.

On October 12, Shepelev left 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.

As human rights defenders found out, Shepelev was tricked into being lured to the Tskhinvali district and detained there. After that, the activist was sent to Vladikavkaz under administrative arrest on the charge of petty hooliganism. While Shepelev was in the detention center, charges were brought against him in a criminal case under terrorist articles.

After Shepelev’s arrest, he was transferred to Nizhny Tagil pre-trial detention center. The stage lasted one and a half months, human rights activists added.

Rafail Shepelev is a native of Yekaterinburg, activist of the “Art training” movement. In Russia, he was repeatedly detained at protests.

The “First Department” project notes that administrative arrest on a premeditated basis before detention in a criminal case is a common practice in Russia.

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.