Anatoliy Vilitkevich was released from the pre-trial detention center

By the decision of the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan, Anatoliy Vilitkevich, who had been detained in a pre-trial detention center for more than two months, was transferred to house arrest. On June 21, the court granted his lawyer's request to change the measure of restraint and agreed with the arguments that the accused did not pose a threat to society and would not try to leave the city.

Anatoliy Vilitkevich was detained on April 12 in Ufa on charges of "organizing the activities of an extremist organization" (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). His wife, Alyona, was one of the authors of a collective letter to the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, which drew attention to the massive repression of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country. When Anatoliy was taken away by the police, one of the officers told his wife that now she would not see him for a long time, and the investigator in the case advised her to "look for a new husband."

It is noteworthy that earlier the courts rejected the lawyer of Anatoliy Vilitkevich in petitions to change the measure of restraint. But on June 20, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to check the legality and validity of the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses. A day earlier, more than 60 human rights defenders and public figures signed an open letter demanding an end to repressions against believers.

(See also video interviews with Alyona Vilitkevich and other victims of mass searches in Ufa.)