JEHOVAH'S
WITNESSES
DEVOTEES ARRESTED IN Kh.M.A.O
In
Yugorsk in the
Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug [Kh.M.A.O.], a case against two
residents suspected of
arranging the activity of a religious cell of Jehovah's
Witnesses, whose
activity is forbidden on Russian territory, was opened. This was
reported on
the website of the Investigation Department of the Investigative
Committee of
Russia [S.K.R.] for the region on 19 August.
The case
was opened
against a 42-year-old and a 48-year-old resident of Yugorsk.
They are suspects
on the basis of part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of
the RF
("Arranging the activity of an extremist organization"). The
suspects
have been arrested.
The
investigation
thinks that in the period from 6 September 2017 to 18 August
2020, the
Yugorskans created in Yugorsk and Sovetsky a local religious
organization,
which was promoting the ideology of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The
suspects directed
together and in concert the activity of this organization and
they engaged in
distributing extremist literature, recruiting new members from
among local
residents, and also collecting and spending money for the needs
of the cell.
Searches
were conducted
in the places of residence of the suspects and also of other
members of the
organization, during which communication devices and extremist
literature and
pamphlets were confiscated.
In the
near future,
the investigation will petition for confining the detainees in
custody.
Earlier,
on 15 July,
the S.K.R. in Tomsk oblast opened a criminal case regarding
arranging the
activity of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to information of the
investigation,
from July 2017 to July 2020, a group of persons arranged the
activity of a
local division of this organization in the closed administrative
territorial
formation of the city of Seversk. The alleged creator was
arrested.
By a
decision of the
Russian Supreme Court of 20 April 2017, the activity of the
organization
"Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and
also of
the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of the
city of Yugorsk,
which was a member of that structure, was forbidden on the
territory of our
country.
At the
time of the
prohibition, the organization consisted of more than 2,200
religious groups,
which could have included about 175,000 members. (tr. by PDS,
posted 20 August
2020)
ACTIVITY
OF FORBIDDEN
ORGANIZATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HALTED IN YUGRA
In
Yugra
[Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug], a criminal case has been
opened against a
42-year-old resident and a 48-year-old resident of the city of
Yugorsk. They
are suspected of arranging the activity of an extremist
organization,
Nakanune.ru was told in the press service of the regional
S.K.R. [Investigative
Committee of Russia].
According
to the
account of the investigation, the suspects arranged the
activity of a religious
organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is forbidden in
Russia, on the territory
of the cities of Yugorsk and Sovetskii. In the period from 6
September 2017 to
18 August 2020, the suspects directed the organization,
parceled out duties
among its members, controlled its activity, distributed
extremist literature,
recruited new members from among local residents, organized
secret meetings of
members at which they conducted religious rituals and sermons,
and collected
money for the needs of the organization.
"Over
the course
of almost three years, the organization promoted the
superiority of adherents
of the teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses over other persons,
including those who
profess a different religion, and a negative assessment of
persons who are not
adherents of said religious teaching, and they encouraged them
to split from
kinship and familial relations and to not recognize
governmental bodies,"
the report of the S.K.R. says.
Investigators
and
officers of the M.V.D. conducted nine searches, where
communication devices,
extremist literature and pamphlets, and other items and
documents having
significance for the criminal case were seized, including
instructions for
resisting investigation agencies.
Both
organizers have
been arrested and at the present time are being questioned by
investigators,
and in the near future a petition for confining them in
custody will be sent to
a court. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 August 2020)
Update:
Jehovah's
Witnesses
in Russia, 20 August 2020
According
to verified
information, on 19 August, searches were conducted at 9
addresses, 8 in the
city of Yugorsk and 1 in the city of Sovetskii. Sixteen
persons were taken away
for interrogation. After interrogation, two
believers—48-year-old Andrei Zhukov
of Yugorsk and 42-year-old Ivan Sorokin of Sovetskii—were
placed in a temporary
holding cell for 48 hours. During this time, a court is
supposed to decide the
question of selecting measures of restriction for them. It is
known that a
criminal case based on part 1 of article 282.2 has been opened
against them. It
is being conducted by N.Yu. Tatarnikov, an investigator of the
investigation
control division of the Investigation Department of the
Investigative Committee
of the Russian Federation.
(tr. by
PDS, posted 20 August 2020)
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