The Court of Appeal in Bashkortostan transferred the believer to house arrest

On October 31, 2018, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan softened the measure of restraint for 31-year-old Anton Lemeshev from Dyurtyuli (Bashkiria). He was placed under house arrest after 14 days spent in pre-trial detention center No. 5 in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Having placed Anton Lemeshev under house arrest, the court banned him from correspondence and telephone conversations, as well as communication with people involved in his criminal case as witnesses or suspects.

Anton Lemeshev was detained on October 18, 2018. On that day, at least 11 searches were conducted in the homes of citizens suspected of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The case under Article 282.2 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was initiated by the Dyurtyulinsky Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia on September 20, 2018. Investigator R. Farrakhov motivated his decision to initiate the case: "An unidentified person ... reliably knowing that a religious organization ... recognized as extremist ... deliberately organized the activities of a local religious organization in the city of Dyurtyuli." It is not known how the investigator established that the "unidentified person" acted "deliberately" and that this person not only exercised his constitutional right to freedom of religion, but "organized the activities of a local religious organization."

This is not the first such case in Bashkiria. In April 2018, 32-year-old Anatoliy Vilitkevich was arrested. He spent 71 days in the Ufa pre-trial detention center, and was later transferred to house arrest. His arrest was also a direct consequence of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2017, which imposed a ban on the activities of all registered legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, including the association in Ufa. The decision of the Supreme Court is appealed to the ECHR as a matter of priority. Meanwhile, dozens of human rights defenders, as well as the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, express concern about the growing religious repression.