"Russian activist visited the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone before disappearing," - Georgian interior ministry
How Shepelev disappeared in Georgia
The Georgian interior ministry reports that Russian activist Rafael Shepelev, who recently disappeared in Tbilisi, was seen in the village of Kirbali in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone on the day of his disappearance, October 12.
Witnesses state he arrived there by taxi, searching for the Lomisi church. The next day, he was in a Russian pre-trial detention center.
According to “Mediazona,” Shepelev left his apartment on October 12 and didn’t return. His belongings were left at home.
A day after his disappearance, on October 13, a court in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia) announced Shepelev’s 15-day arrest for petty hooliganism. Later, as reported by “Mediazona,” he faced charges of terrorism and was transferred to a pre-trial detention center.
The activist’s associates and friends insist that he had no intention of returning to Russia, especially considering the ongoing criminal case against him there.
The Georgian Interior Ministry informed the Russian human rights organization Free Russia that Shepelev took a cab to the village of Kirbali in the conflict zone on October 12. The activist’s movements were corroborated by surveillance footage, the cab driver’s testimony, and villagers’ accounts.
Witnesses informed the police that Shepelev was seeking a church in the village where there were “Russians.” According to the interior ministry, Russian border guards, overseeing the conflict zone, were responsible for taking the activist to North Ossetia, within Russian territory.
On November 6, Russian border guards fatally shot Georgian citizen Tamaz Ginturi and apprehended another person in the village of Kirbali in Gori municipality. Ginturi and his companions were attempting to access a local Church of St. George Lomisi. The Russian military, considering Kirbali as part of the “state border of South Ossetia,” restricts the free movement of the local population in the area.
Rafael Shepelev, a resident of Yekaterinburg, was a member of the banned ultra-left anarchist movement Artpodgotovka in Russia. Known for frequent arrests in his home country for participating in protests, including those supporting Alexei Navalny, Shepelev has been residing in Georgia since 2021.
The activist’s son, Daniil Shepelev, living in Russia, told Mediazona that in May 2023 an investigator visited his home and questioned him about his father’s whereabouts.
“They asked me if I knew where he was, what he was doing, what he was planning, where he intended to go, and what videos he posted on social media. According to the investigator, he had posted a video of someone else on his page, and they had a case against him for that video. I was asked if I had seen the video and if I agreed with its content,” Daniil Shepelev says.
The activist’s son mentions that the case was related to “terrorism.” The investigator did not specify which video led to the case but mentioned that it contained a call to burn down military enlistment offices.
Representatives of the Russian human rights organization “First Department” state that “this is not the first case when members of a Russian anarchist organization disappear from different countries where they were hiding and then end up in detention centers in Russia.”
Left Bloc activist Lev Skoryakin was kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan in October. He was later found in Butyr prison in Moscow. According to human rights activists, he was tortured after his abduction.
