KRASNOYARSK: NEW WIDE-SPREAD SEARCHES IN BELIEVERS' HOMES
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 7 November 2018
Searches in approximately 20 apartments and houses where citizens suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses live were conducted on 7 November 2018, beginning at 5:00 a.m. They were sanctioned by the central district court of the city of Krasnoyarsk within the framework of a criminal case against Andrei Stupnikov, who was arrested on 3 July 2018 on a charge of "planning the activity of an extremist organization (with a reference to the decision of the Russian Supreme Court on liquidation of all 396 registered organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses).
During the searches, telephones, tablets, computers, flash drives, notebooks, photographs, and the like were confiscated. After the searches, almost all of the citizens were taken to the Investigative Committee for interrogation. Several were detained more than three hours. There is no information about new arrests. Personnel of the F.S.B. participated actively in the events. Several [believers] were threatened with criminal prosecution in the event of a refusal to give evidence against fellow believers.
The Council on Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, under the president of Russia, cited such criminal cases in its appeal to the office of prosecutor general of Russia. "The accusation against citizens that they read the Bible and pray to God together is interpreted as 'continuing the activity of an extremist organization.' The council considers such an interpretation to not correspond to the legal position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. There is an obvious contradiction between the statement of the position of the government of the Russian Federation and law enforcement practice. This cannot but evoke concern inasmuch as criminal prosecutions and arrests have acquired a systematic character." (tr. by PDS, posted 7 November 2018)
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/.