Vladimir Yegorov, the head of Tver branch of the Russian opposition party ‘Yabloko’, disappeared in Belarus in late July.
Later, he was reported to be kept in a detention centre in the Russian town of Toropets. The activist is accused of inciting terrorism (Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). He refused to testify or plead guilty.
Russian corruption-fighter Vladimir Yegorov was repeatedly threatened; unknown individuals broke windows in his house. Then Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against him over a post in social networks.
In early June, Yegorov intended to seek political asylum in Ukraine, but he was denied entry to the country.Then Yegorov went to Minsk, where he asked the Ukrainian department of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to tackle his situation. On July 28, Vladimir Yegorov Belarusian human rights activists that Russia had put him on a wanted list. Then he stopped answering the phone.
On September 7, defense lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina visited Yegorov.
“His taking away from Belarus was the work of special services. He was detained in the hostel on Friday at about 23:00, they did not identify themselves. They put a bag on his head and took him to some [police] departmet – he does not know exactly to which one. He spent Saturday and Sunday in a cell. On Monday morning, before the dawn, they drove him to the Russian border, three cars were used for the operation. One of the cars was Yegorov’s; he was placed in an armored car. At a border crossing point, the FSB collected him and delivered to Toropets. Both the KGB and FSB officers asked him whether he had not been not recruited by Ukraine’s Security Service, what call sign he got, who had helped him in Belarus. His cellphone and tablet were seized. His moral and psychological condition is not very good. He was not ill-treated physically,” she told human rights defenders.
belsat.eu
