Russian Activist Who Disappeared In Georgia Located In Detention Center In Sverdlovsk Region

Rafail Shepelev, who had lived in Georgia since 2021 and did not plan to return to Russia, was tricked into leaving Tbilisi by Russian security services.

Russian activist Rafail Shepelev, who disappeared in Georgia in mid-October, has been located in a pretrial detention center in Nizhny Tagil in Russia's Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, the human rights project First Department reported.

Shepelev, an activist of the Artpodgotovka (Artillery Bombardment) movement, has been charged with terrorism, First Department reported on its Telegram channel.

Russia labeled Artpodgotovka, a Russian political organization of a left-wing-nationalist character, as an extremist group in 2017 and banned it.

Human rights activists say that Shepelev, who had resided in Georgia since 2021 and did not plan to return to Russia, was tricked into leaving Tbilisi by Russian security forces.

"They lured him from Tbilisi to Tskhinvali (in the Russian-backed separatist region of South Ossetia), detained him there, transported him to Vladikavkaz (in Russia), placed him under administrative arrest, during which they charged him with a criminal offense and put him in the Nizhny Tagil pretrial detention center," First Department said.

Shepelev's documents, including his passport, remained in Georgia.

Shepelev reportedly went missing in Tbilisi on October 12. Irina Ruchko, a friend of Shepelev, told Mediazona that he “left home to take care of errands" without giving details.

The day after Shepelev went missing, an administrative case was opened against him in a court in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz.

He was first sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest for alleged petty hooliganism and was later charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, which can be punished by 10 to 20 years in prison, and of justifying terrorism -- a charge punishable by five to seven years of prison.

In October, another Russian activist, Lev Skoryakin, was discovered in a Moscow detention center after he went missing in Kyrgyzstan.