IN
KARACHAY-CHERKESIA
SECURITY AGENTS SEARCH MOTHER OF SEVERAL CHILDREN FOR EXTREMIST
LITERATURE
Jehovah's
Witnesses
in Russia, 3 January 2020
Several
weeks before
the December raids in Cherkessk, security forces conducted a
search in the home
of a resident of the village of Ordzhonikidzevsky who is raising
four children
alone. This happened back in June 2019, but details have become
known only now.
In the
morning of 1
June, law enforcers on the street approached Indira, a mother of
several
children, while she was conversing with neighbors. After
presenting a warrant
for a search, they entered the home and recruited the neighbors
in the capacity
of witnesses. The search was conducted in the presence of three
minor children
of the woman. Over the course of two hours, the agents sought
for
"extremist" literature, checking even a school textbook. One of
them
asked whether Indira knew that a court had banned Russian
organizations of
Jehovah's Witnesses. The woman said that the leader of the group
said that he
had nothing against Jehovah's Witnesses and he was "simply doing
his
job."
Having
found nothing,
the troops apologized and left. As Indira herself said, she had
noticed being
followed earlier in Karachaevsk.
Back in
2016,
searches of the homes of local residents, who were suspected of
distributing
"extremist literature," were conducted in two residential areas
of
Karachay-Cherkessia, the settlement of Mednogorsky and the
village of
Kurdzhinovo. However at the time of the search, believers were
not brought to
criminal prosecution. As a result of the December searches in
Cherkessk,
43-year-old Albert Batchaev was arrested and a criminal case
against him was
opened on the basis of the "extremism" article (282) of the
Criminal
Code. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 January 2020)
Background articles:
Jehovah's Witnesses harassed for using
their songbook,
December 17, 2019
Routine harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses
reported,
September 22, 2016
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