NEW WAVE OF SEARCHES IN BELIEVERS' HOMES IN OMSK
Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia, 9 May 2019
On 8 May 2019, in Omsk, searches were conducted in
approximately five
homes of citizens whom law enforcement personnel consider to be
Jehovah's
Witnesses. Yesterday's raid was sanctioned by Oksana Voltornist,
judge of the
Kuibyshev district court of Omsk. The searches were conducted
within the
context of a criminal case against the Poliakov married couple.
The investigator brought to the court a list of people
who, according
to information of the Investigative Committee, had previously
been members of
the "Omsk, Kazakhskoe" congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. The
court
was not interested in the question of whether "Omsk, Kazakhskoe"
had
anything to do with an organization that had been prohibited by
a court. The
very existence of the list was considered by Judge Voltornist to
be sufficient
grounds to turn the life of citizens who were guilty of nothing
into a
nightmare, by sanctioning searches in their homes.
For example, a group of eight persons, some in masks,
broke into one of
the homes. During the search, the investigator and operatives
rummaged in
closets, videotaped everything, demeaned the human dignity of
citizens, and
engaged in insulting comments about their faith. In at least one
case, an agent
of the investigation, in composing the charging document, did
not permit the
owner of the apartment to cross out the fields that were left
blank.
After the searches, believers were taken for questioning
to the
investigator Denis Levchenko. This criminal case was opened in
June 2018. The
married couple Sergei and Anastasia Poliakov spent exactly five
months in
isolation cells. In subjecting the couple to such harsh
treatment, law
enforcement personnel forced them, in essence, to incriminate
themselves and
other people. In December 2018, the couple was transferred to
house arrest, and
their current measure of restriction is a signed promise not to
depart. . . .
(tr. by PDS, posted 11 May 2019)
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