JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES RELAXING ON BEACH IN NEFTEKUMSK TAKEN TO POLICE STATION
SOVA Center for News and Analysis, 29 August 2017
On 26 August 2017, 18 residents of Nevtekumsk [Stavropol territory]—members of the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation who were relaxing with their children on a lake bank—were arrested by police officers on suspicion of conducting illegal activity of a religious organization and were taken to the police department.
The police said that the operation began after an anonymous phone call in which they were told that "Jehovah's Witnesses are gathered at a river and they are prohibited."
The detainees—including children and retirees—were kept at the police department for more than three hours, answering questions about their attitude toward religion. Several noted in the record of the interrogation that "they experienced humiliating treatment on the part of the police." (tr. by PDS, posted 29 August 2017)
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