BELIEVER PUT BEHIND BARS FOR TWO MONTHS IN IVANOVO OBLAST
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 29 January 2019
On 28 January 2019, Larisa Zubova, a judge of the October district court of the city of Ivanovo, sent 32-year-old Evgeny Spirin to the SIZO for two months merely for his faith in God. An investigator of the directorate of the Russian F.S.B. for Ivanovo oblast, A. Dmitriev, and an assistant prosecutor of the October district of the city of Ivanovo, A. Tsitskeev, petitioned for his detention in custody.
It is known that the case against Evgeny Spirin was opened on 21 January 2019 by an investigator of the directorate of the Russian F.S.B. for Ivanovo oblast, A. Dmitriev.
On 27 January 2019, Evgeny Spirin, a resident of the city of Furmanov (Ivanovo oblast), was arrested by F.S.B. personnel. On that day, the F.S.B. conducted searches in the city in homes of citizens who are suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Evgeny Spirin was brought as a defendant on the basis of article 282.2. The investigators charge Evgeny Spirin with "conducting actions aimed at reviving and continuing the illegal activity of the aforementioned religious organization ["a structural subdivision of the religious organization "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia"], specifically, he convened and conducted meetings of this organization and conducted religious conversations with residents of Ivanovo oblast for purposes of its propaganda."
This is now the second criminal case against Jehovah's Witnesses in Ivanovo oblast. The first case, in Shuya, was opened by the Investigative Committee of Russia for Ivanovo oblast against Dmitry Mikhailov; his wife, Elena; and another three persons on the basis of articles 282.2 and 282.3. Dmitry Mikhailov spent 171 days in the SIZO No. 1 for Ivanovo oblast and then was released under a signed promise not to depart. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 29 January 2019)
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