Belarus Extradites Russian Activist Wanted For Alleged Extremism
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Yegorov has been extradited from Belarus to Russia, his lawyer says.
Svetlana Sidorkina told RFE/RL on August 2 that her client is currently in a detention center in his native city of Toropets in the western Russian region of Tver.
Earlier on August 2, Belarusian human rights activist Nasta Loyka told RFE/RL that Yegorov, who had been living in a Minsk hostel, had been missing since July 29. He left Russia for Belarus to avoid possible prosecution for his online posts.
Yegorov -- the leader of the Russian opposition Yabloko party's branch in Toropets -- was charged with public calls for extremism in October after he posted materials on the Internet in August 2016 criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He later fled to Ukraine and asked for political asylum there. After Ukrainian authorities refused to give him asylum, Yegorov moved to Belarus, hoping to get asylum there.
In June, Belarusian authorities detained a Russian rights whistle-blower, Murad Amriyev, and extradited him to Russia, where he was wanted for alleged forgery of documents.
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