On May 29, 2024, anti-war activist Alexey Rozhkov, who had fled from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, was extending his temporary registration in his host country. And the very next day, early in the morning, security forces broke into his home.
On June 7, lawyer Kamil Isabekov visited Alexey Rozhkov in a temporary detention center in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg (the largest city in the Urals) to find out the circumstances of his transfer to Russia.
Alexey Rozhkov:
“I was detained early in the morning in a rented temporary flat by a large number of operatives, five to seven. All my tech equipment was immediately taken away. They told me to take all my things with me, but they didn’t let me pack properly. They brought me to the department [GKNB — State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan]. In neighboring rooms, the screams of people who were being tortured were often and continuously heard. I was threatened with torture if I did not cooperate.
My detention took place the next morning after I renewed my registration, so I doubt that this is a coincidence. I told them about how I renewed my registration, then I was taken to the airport. [During the flight, Rozhkov was accompanied by two officers of the Kyrgyz secret services in civilian clothes.] Upon arrival [in Russia], I was met by the FSB, bag over my head, shocker, everything was as usual”.
Alexey Rozhkov is an anarchist, he became the third in Russia to set fire to the military enlistment office after the full-scale invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine. He was detained and charged with “attempted murder” — allegedly there was a watchwoman in the building of the military registration and enlistment office. However, six months later, the article was reclassified as “damage to property” and Rozhkov was released from the pre-trial detention center. Against the backdrop of statements by the authorities that the arson of military registration and enlistment offices should be qualified as “terrorist acts”, Rozhkov left Russia.
After the escape, in an interview with DOXA, Rozhkov explained the motive for his act: “I just understood that one cannot remain indifferent. What is happening now is illegitimate, it is illegal. Any war is death for ordinary citizens“.
“I believe that I have saved lives, and that my own life is a small price to pay for the number of people who are still alive now thanks to my action”.
After the security forces brought Rozhkov to Russia, a court in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg resumed the trial in his case. On June 6, at a meeting, the prosecutor requested that the case be returned for additional investigation. The next hearing is scheduled for June 14.
We observe a tendency to reclassify such cases under the article of a “terrorist act”, and we are afraid of such a turn in the case of Alexey Rozhkov. Therefore, we call for maximum publicity of this situation. People should not be handed over to the criminal Putin regime, and anti-war arson should not be qualified as terrorist attacks. In the end, neither one nor the other corresponds to both international norms and Russian laws.
Now Alexey Rozhkov is being held in SIZO-1 in Yekaterinburg, and letters can be written to him.
HOW TO HELP
Address for letters:
620019, Россия, г. Екатеринбург, ул. Репина, 4, СИЗО-1, Рожков Алексей Игоревич 1997 г.р.
It is possible to send letters through the electronic service «Зонателеком».
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