Berezikov Anatoly

Berezikov Anatoly, 40 years old at the time of his death, opposition activist and musician from Rostov-on-Don, known as Anatoly Ryk.

After his arrest for posting anti-war leaflets starting from 11 May 2023, Berezikov was arrested 3 times in fabricated cases of administrative offences on the instructions of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in order to carry out illegal investigative work. According to the defence, he was tortured (text in Russian) in order to obtain a confession of committing a crime under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code (‘High Treason’, punishable by up to life imprisonment).

On 14 June 2023, one day before the completion of another term of arrest, it became known (text in Russian) that Berezikov had died. We do not know whether it was suicide, a consequence of torture or an extrajudicial execution.