A police officer monitors the Gilboa prison in northern Israel on Sept. 6, 2021. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Russian-Israeli historian and journalist Artyom Kirpichenok, whom Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, has detained for more than a month, faces accusations of espionage and contacting an agent of a foreign intelligence service, according to his lawyer and relatives cited by several Russian media outlets. Israeli authorities have not publicly disclosed the reasons for his arrest.
Kirpichenok, 51, has lived in Russia since 2005 and works as a journalist and researcher specializing in the Middle East and Central Asia. He is known for his fierce criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s policies toward Palestinians and Zionism.
According to independent Russian media outlet Meduza, which cited his support committee, Kirpichenok arrived in Tel Aviv on Aug. 2 to attend an international conference. Shin Bet agents detained him upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport. Authorities initially held him at the domestic security service’s center in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv, before transferring him to Ayalon Prison.
Family representatives told Meduza that, “according to unofficial information,” Kirpichenok faces suspicion of “engaging in espionage activities” and communicating with “an agent of a foreign intelligence service.” One relative quoted by the outlet said the presumed agent was neither Lebanese nor Iranian.
His lawyer, Inna Lebedinskaya-Katz, told the Russian daily Izvestia on Sept. 4 that she had received the indictment against her client. She said authorities accused him of espionage under several legal provisions, but that the details could not yet be made public.
“These are the harshest provisions regarding state security offenses,” she said. Kirpichenok is being held in the high-security wing of Ayalon Prison, but his lawyer said he told her he was doing better there because authorities had stopped interrogating him and allowed him to take walks.
Another possible offense could relate to a trip to Iran. Kirpichenok recounted a stay in Iran on social media in 2018. Israel considers Iran an enemy state and prohibits its citizens from traveling there without special authorization from the Interior Ministry, with violations punishable by up to four years in prison.
Izvestia claims Kirpichenok visited Iran several times. However, Meduza reported that he returned to Israel several times after his 2018 trip without encountering problems at the border, according to two relatives.
The circumstances surrounding Kirpichenok’s trip to Israel have also raised questions. According to Meduza, he planned to attend an international scientific conference and leave the country six days after his arrival. But when relatives contacted the municipality of the city where the event was supposed to take place, officials reportedly told them that no such conference had taken place.
Kirpichenok’s relatives now suspect that organizers used the invitation to lure him to Israel as part of a security services operation.
Moscow refers case to UN
Russia has also taken up the case. Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoli Viktorov told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Aug. 5 that the embassy had asked the relevant Israeli authorities for information about Kirpichenok’s arrest.
On Aug. 28, the Human Rights Council under the Russian presidency also referred the case to the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. It called on Israeli authorities to clarify the reasons for his arrest and guarantee him access to a lawyer and medical care.
