CHERKESSK: JEHOVAH'S WITNESS SUBJECTED TO BEATING IN POLICE DEPARTMENT
A minister of the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cherkessk (Karachaevo-Cherkesiia, RF), 53-year-old Vladimir Mirzoian, was subjected to beatings and severe psychological pressure on the part of policemen in a local police department. As the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia reports on 14 July, in the police building at 57 Voroshilov Street, officials representing personnel of the Center for Combating Extremism, including the chief of this center, beat the believer about the face and stomach, demanding that he renounce on video tape a statement about the illegal actions of police personnel. Trying to get necessary evidence, police personnel insulted and demeaned the believer and also threatened illegal consequences for him and his relatives.
The cause of these actions was the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses with 210 seats that was built by the hands of believers of Cherkessk in 2000. All these years, the hall, located at 139 Fabrichnaia Street, has been actively used by congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. However the building began interfering with the plans for building a shopping mall, in connection with which the believers received proposals to give up the building and a part of adjoining property (860 sq.m.). At the present time, the local prosecutor's office, with the support of police personnel, is trying to confiscate the hall because of alleged "extremist activity" of believers. To do this, Jehovah's Witnesses' publications that had previously been entered into the federal list of extremist materials were planted in the hall and then "discovered."
Twice in the month of June 2015, Vladimir Mirzoian was subjected to severe treatment in the police station. During the first conversation, under severe pressure, he was forced to sign a previously prepared police statement, although the next morning he filed a complaint against law enforcement personnel. After this, he was subjected to yet more severe abuse, so that the believer was forced to get medical aid. At the present time, he fears for the safety of his family and is hoping that higher level agencies of authority will be able to protect him from police violence.
"The believers are facing the tragic consequences of judicial mistakes made several years ago," a representative of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, Yaroslav Sivulsky, says. "Because of the vague wording of antiextremist legislation, several liturgical books of the Jehovah's Witnesses were included in the forbidden list. As a result, law-abiding, peaceful, well-meaning, and respectful people are called "extremists" and subjected to inhuman treatment, and their property is threatened with confiscation. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 July 2015)
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/.