TWO RESIDENTS OF THE
KUBAN SUSPECTED OF
PARTICIPATION IN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ORGANIZATION
Interfax-Religiia,
17 October 2019
Investigators opened a
criminal case
against two residents of Krasnodar territory who are suspected
of participating
in a religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (banned in
the RF), the
press service of the S.K.R. [Investigative Committee of Russia]
reported on
Thursday.
"It was established that
the men
are members of the 'Adler' religious organization of Jehovah's
Witnesses.
According to the account of the investigation, in the period
from May 2017 to
13 June 2019, the subjects organized in various residential and
nonresidential
premises of the city of Sochi meetings and also religious
performances where
they acted for the purposes of propaganda of the activity of a
forbidden
association and recruited new members," the report says.
It is noted that at the
present time the
accused are being detained. The investigator also conducted
searches in places
where the meetings were held and in the subjects' places of
residence, during
which literature of the Jehovists was seized, including rough
drafts and
communications devices. All circumstances of the crime have been
established,
as well as other participants in the illegal activity.
The investigation of the
criminal case
is continuing.
On 20 April 2017 the
Supreme Court
ruled, on the basis of a lawsuit of the Russian Ministry of
Justice, that the
Jehovah's Witnesses are an extremist organization and it
prohibited its
activity on Russian territory. An appellate panel of the Russian
Supreme Court
on 17 July 2017 ruled this decision to be legal. (tr. by PDS,
posted 17 October
2019)
INVITATION AND
PROPAGANDA: TWO JEHOVAH'S
WITNESSES TAKEN INTO CUSTODY IN SOCHI
Kubanskie
Novosti, 17 October 2019
At the
present time
the men are in custody. Local residents, a 45-year-old and a
68-year-old, are
accused of membership in an extremist organization.
As
reported in the
press service of the territorial SU SKR [Investigation
Department of the
Investigative Committee of Russia], the two men are members of
the
"Adler" religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is
considered extremist and forbidden in Russia.
According
to the
account of the investigation, from May 2017 to 13 June 2019 the
men organized
meetings in various premises of Sochi, as well as religious
performances, where
presenting themselves as members of the organization they
conducted for
purposes of propaganda activities of a forbidden association and
invited new
members.
At the
present time,
the men are in custody. In several places where they conducted
meetings and
also in the men's places of residence, literature interesting
the investigation
of the religious teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses was seized,
including rough
drafts and communication devices. All circumstances of the crime
committed have
been established in addition to other participants in the
illegal activity.
As
Kubanskie Novosti
has reported earlier, a local resident in Krasnodar is suspected
of conducting
activity of a foreign nongovernmental organization that is
forbidden on the
territory of the Russian Federation.
Border
patrol agents
discovered in the Krasnodar airport a foreign citizen who was
convicted abroad
for participating in a terrorist organization that is forbidden
on Russian
territory. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 October 2019)
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