After the start of the war, Russian law enforcement began actively using the practice of 'carousel arrests', which allows keeping a person in custody longer than legally permitted, and these administrative arrests end with detention on criminal charges. The human rights project 'First Department' explained how this happens.
A person is detained for some trivial, usually fabricated violation, such as 'minor hooliganism' or 'disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer'. The court imposes an administrative arrest of 10-15 days. When the first administrative arrest ends, the person is detained again right at the exit of the detention center and sentenced to another 10-15 days. During this time, the investigation continues to gather materials for a future criminal case and obtains the necessary testimony from the detainee. When enough materials are collected, the suspect is charged under one of the serious articles, such as 'treason', 'espionage', or 'terrorism'.
The longest known case of 'carousel arrests', according to the 'First Department', was the case of Ilya Krasnov, a graduate of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT). After 11 administrative arrests totaling 165 days, a criminal case was initiated against Krasnov for 'treason'. In February last year, he was detained on the street and received 15 days for 'foul language'. Until October 2024, he was detained either under a similar article or for 'hooliganism'. In May, he was detained at Vnukovo while trying to leave the country, again charged with 'foul language', and sentenced to 15 days.
In October last year, Krasnov was taken into custody as part of a criminal case under the article on 'treason'.
Crimean Tatar Lenie Umerova spent 161 days under administrative arrests, after which she was accused of 'espionage' for Ukraine, and was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.
On December 3, 2022, she was first detained at the 'Verkhniy Lars' border crossing for 'disobedience to a lawful order or demand of a police officer'. After that, until May 2023, she was arrested five more times under the same administrative articles, after which she was detained as part of a criminal case.
Muscovite Timofey Rudenko, a military psychologist and reserve lieutenant, after eight administrative arrests totaling 103 days, became a defendant in a criminal case on charges of 'public justification of terrorism'. Since May 2022, he was subjected to administrative arrests under the article on 'minor hooliganism', and in June 2023, a criminal case was initiated.
'First Department' also reported the death of a detainee after a series of 'carousel arrests'. Musician and activist from Rostov-on-Don Anatoly Berezikov was detained in May 2023 for 'disobedience to a police officer's demand' and sent to 10 days of arrest. After that, he was arrested two more times for 'minor hooliganism'.
Berezikov was going to be accused of 'treason', and confessions were being extracted in advance: he was taken to the forest and tortured with an electric shocker, threatened with rape, murder, and life imprisonment.
A day before the end of another arrest, the lawyer arrived at the detention center and learned that her client was dead. Detention center staff claimed that Berezikov committed suicide, but his own words before his death indicate that he was tortured by unknown operatives, presumably FSB officers.
* Recognized in Russia as a 'foreign agent'.