The Russian anarchist Roman Shvedov was found dead in pre-trial detention center on Wednesday, about five hours after the court announced its verdict.
On the 23rd of September 2022 someone threw a firebomb with 3 litres of gasoline to an administration building in the Zimovski municipality of the Rostov region. Roman Shvedov was soon arrested and charged with terrorism. While Shvedov initially faced a less serious charge of intentional destruction of property, Russia’s Federal Security Service later said the arson attack had been carried out to “destabilise” the work of the authorities and to “protest” against the war in Ukraine and the mass conscription announced by the Kremlin in September 2022. Solidarity Zone organised a lawyer to visit Roman in March, whom he told that he is an anarchist and in very bad spirits. He refused any further support in the form of lawyers, saying that he will be rotting in prison for years and lawyers cannot change the outcome of his case.
Some of you may have written him a letter, as he was on the list of international anarchist prisoners. Our condolences for his loss and the tragic circumstances are with all his relatives and comrades who were close to him.
