THREE DAGESTANI JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES* LEFT IN CUSTODY
Kavkazskii Uzel, 16 August 2019
The Supreme Court of Dagestan refused to mitigate the measure of restriction of three believers who were arrested on a charge of participation in an extremist organization.
As Kavkazskii Uzel reported, searches were conducted in four cities of Dagestan on 1 June. Siloviki arrested the Jehovah's Witnesses* Arsen Abdullaev, Maria Karpova, Anton Dergalev, and Marat Abdugalimov. Since 3 June they have been in custody. All four of the accused called their criminal prosecution persecution for faith and they appealed the extension of detention until 27 September. The Dagestan Supreme Court on 15 August left the detention of Marat Abdulgalimov in force and put off the consideration of his three fellow believers until today.
Anton Dergalev, Maria Karpova, and Arsen Abdullaev asked the court to change the measure of restriction for them to any other form not associated with detention on custody. They all declared in court that they are being prosecuted merely because of faith and that the materials of the case do not contain any evidence of their guilt, a Kavkazskii Uzel correspondent reports.
The believers asked for the overruling of the decision of the Soviet court of Makhachkala, which on 25 July extended their detention for two months,. They called the decision to extend their detention unreasonable. The Dagestan Supreme Court refused to grant their appeal and left the decision without change.
* 396 Russian organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were ruled to be extremist and their activity has been forbidden in Russia by a court decision. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 August 2019)
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