AN ORDINARY RAID
According to a report of the press
service of the
Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, in the
evening of 28
July, during worship services, personnel of the power structures
of the Russian
federation organized an attack on religious organizations.
The brutal violent action against
believers was
conducted in two cities of the republic of Karelia, Petrozavodsk
and
Kostomuksha. Specifically, in Petrozavodsk, during a service,
personnel of
special forces armed with automatic weapons—including FSB agents and a group
of OMON—burst
into the premises of Jehovah's Witnesses.
"Telephones and other electronic
equipment were
seized from the congregation," the press service reports.
"Several of
the believers were thrown roughly to the floor, pinned by knees,
and kicked.
Believers were questioned and documents were checked. The final
detainee was
released well after midnight. Several published materials that
are included in
the Federal List of Extremist Materials were planted."
Personnel that arrived at the house of
worship in
Kostomuksha planted two copies of printed materials included in
the Federal
List of Extremist Materials, as well as something unusual—the
original of the
passport of a man who had not attended Jehovah's Witnesses'
services, but whose
relatives had been known to speak out previously against the
religion of the
Jehovah's Witnesses. The reason for planting this document is
unknown.
According to the testimony of the religious organization, planting forbidden literature has become "a widespread practice of malevolent personnel of law enforcement agencies. The 'discovered' materials serve as grounds for opening administrative cases with the aim of subsequent liquidation of a registered congregation and of ruling it to be 'extremist.'" (tr. by PDS, posted 2 August 2016)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.