The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that on May 4, 2022, "law enforcement agencies" of Spain detained Anatoly Shariy.

Anatoly Shariy is a journalist and leader of the opposition Shariy Party. The party was founded in 2019 and, as a result of the 2020 elections, received representation in the local councils of Mariupol, Kharkov, Odessa and other cities of Ukraine.

Anatoly Shariy in 2012 received refugee status in the European Union. In 2013, he was detained in the Netherlands at the request of the Ukrainian authorities, but the Dutch court refused to extradite Shariy to Kyiv.

Since then it has been in the territory of the European Union.

In 2021, the Kyiv authorities accused Shariy of "high treason" and began a lawsuit to ban Shariy's Party.

On March 20, 2022, Sharia's party was banned without trial by Zelensky's decree.

On March 15, the SBU detained a representative of the Sharia Party in the city of Alexandria, Kirovograd region, Artem Khazan. During the arrest, he was beaten. A day later, a video appeared where Khazan slanders the leader of the party, Anatoly Shariy.

The SBU also reported that the detention of Anatoly Shariy was "due to the close cooperation of the Security Service of Ukraine with the Office of the Prosecutor General, international partners and as a result of a multi-level special operation by Ukrainian law enforcement officers."