NEW CRIMINAL CASE FOR FAITH IN NOVOSIBIRSK; AROUND 70
PERSONS
INTERROGATED
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 25 April 2019
On 19 April 2019, FSB personnel simultaneously broke
into at least six
residences of peaceful citizens, whom authorities suspect of
professing the
religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was learned of the opening
of a criminal
case with respect to 64-year-old Alexander Seredkin, 44-year-old
Valery
Maletskov, and 48-year-old Marina Chaplykina. On 21 April 2019,
the October
district court denied the investigator the imprisonment in
pretrial custody of
Seredkin and Maletskov. Instead, a pretrial measure of
restriction in the form
of house arrest was selected for them. A signed promise not to
depart was taken
from Marina Chaplykina.
Alexander Seredkin is charged under part 1 of article
282.2 of the CCRF
for arranging the activity of an extremist organization. In the
opinion of the
investigation, he "arranged meetings and led the reading and
discussion of
literature that has been rule to be extremist." Valery Maletskov
and
Marina Chaplykina are charged under part 2 of article 282.2 of
the CCRF for
participation in the activity of an extremist organization. The
investigation
considers that they assisted A. Seredkin. The case was initiated
by the senior
investigator for especially grave cases of the investigation
department of the
FSB directorate of Russia for Novosibirsk oblast, Justice
Lieutenant Colonel
E.V. Seliunin. More than seventy persons were interrogated with
respect to the
case.
Searches in homes of believers were conducted in accord
with a similar
pattern. A loud knock rang out at 20:45 on the door of the home
of Valery
Maletskov, who lives with his wife and young child. Without
waiting for a
response, the door was broken down. With a shout of "Stop. Do
not move.
Raise your arms!" five men in camouflage and masks and with
weapons and
devices for smashing doors burst into the house. After this,
another nine
persons in civilian clothes entered the house right away. They
declared that by
a decision of a court, a search will be conducted in the house.
Police Lieutenant
Colonel A.V. Pinaev and FSB Captain D.S. Masliukov presented
their credentials.
The operation was directed by an FSB officer who refused to
present his credentials.
The search lasted until 3 a.m., during which passports,
telephones, computer
equipment, and a disk with a video of their wedding were
confiscated from the
family. After the search, the couple was taken to the
directorate of the
Russian FSB for Novosibirsk oblast at 49 Kommunisticheskaia St.
There the
interrogation continued at 5 a.m., which was video taped. After
the
interrogation, Valery Maletskov was placed in a cell. The man
asked the
investigator for a measure of pretrial restriction in the form
of a signed
promise not to depart because of special circumstances (he is
the only source
of support for the family, he works two jobs for supporting a
young child and a
72-year-old mother who is an invalid of the second category).
However the
investigator, Seliunin, asked the court to put the man behind
bars, without
even mentioning his request in court.
In the autumn of last year, a criminal case against Yury Saveliev, who is now in a SIZO, was filed in Novosibirsk. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 April 2019)
NEW INCIDENTS OF PLANTING FORBIDDEN ITEMS ON BELIEVERS
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 24 April 2019
In April 2019, in Novosibirsk and in the resort village of Inozemtsevo (Stavropol territory), during searches in the homes of believers, books included in the list of extremist materials were planted on them. Such a practice was used throughout the country by law enforcement personnel in 2016 and 2017, and it was sharply curtailed after the decision of the Russian Supreme Court liquidating all congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses.
On 19 April 2019, during a search in Novosibirsk, a believer noticed a book that is included in the list of extremist materials had been planted on him.
On 22 April 2019, in Inozemtsevo, a group of law enforcement personnel simultaneously broke into the place of work and the home of 65-year-old Oleg Popadin. At work, a book and digital disk were planted on him, and at his home, another such book was planted on his wife. A search was also made in the believer's car. Telephones and a computer hard drive were seized. Questions about Jehovah's Witnesses were asked, and it was demanded that he implicate himself and others after he agreed to cooperate.
At the time of the Supreme Court's decision, at least 60 incidents of frame-ups and falsifications had already been identified. Illegal actions were often caught by surveillance cameras. Unscrupulous law enforcement personnel, hoping to receive service promotions, resort to falsifications because there are no real violations of law on the part of Jehovah's Witnesses. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 April 2019)
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