Russian activist reportedly kidnapped in Bishkek, flown to Moscow, and tortured in jail after Kyrgyzstan denies extradition request

Lev Skoryakin, an activist from Russia’s “Left Bloc” movement who was reported to have been abducted from a shelter in Bishkek last month, has been found in a Moscow prison, according to the human rights group Memorial.

According to Skoryakin’s associates, on the night of October 16, ten men claiming to be law enforcement officers came to the shelter where he was living in Bishkek and took him in a vehicle to an unknown location.

The following day, according to Memorial, Skoryakin was flown to Moscow. He was held in Moscow’s Butyrka prison with no procedural status for two weeks, during which time he was reportedly tortured.

“They likely tortured Skoryakin to get him to say that he decided to return to Russia voluntarily: it was impossible for [the Russian authorities] to extradite him to Russia because the Kyrgyzstani Prosecutor General’s Office refused, and because he was an asylum seeker,” said human rights workers.

According to Memorial, Skoryakin received a German humanitarian visa on October 16 but was unable to fly to Germany because his passport had been confiscated on October 12, the day of Vladimir Putin’s visit to Kyrgyzstan.

In 2021, Lev Skoryakin was hit with criminal charges in Russia for his participation in a protest against political repressions.