In Kostroma, the measure of restraint for young spouses has been softened

On January 22, 2019, spouses Sergey and Valeria Rayman were finally allowed to live together, use communications and remove the electronic tracking bracelet from their leg. The court refused to extend the investigator's preventive measure in the form of a ban on leaving the house at night, using the Internet, telephone, mail and communicating with "persons professing the teachings of Jehovah." However, the criminal case has not been dismissed, the spouses still face up to 10 years in prison. The spouses are under recognizance not to leave.

Sergey Rayman spent 59 days in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in the Kostroma region, 30 days under house arrest and another 90 days under the ban on certain actions. Valeria Rayman spent 2 days in custody and another 179 days under the ban on certain actions. All this time, it was impossible for the spouses to lead a full life, even to communicate with each other.

The criminal case against the Rayman spouses was initiated under Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization and participation in the activities of an extremist community) on the grounds that, according to the investigation, citizens gathered in their house four times to discuss the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses. On July 25, 2018, in Kostroma, the forces of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the Center for Counteracting Extremism and the National Guard conducted searches in the homes of citizens who, according to the investigation, profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Raimans' apartment was stormed with scrap.

Law enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, as well as the President of the Russian Federation himself drew attention to this problem. Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with extremism and insist on their complete innocence. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that the decisions of the Russian courts on the liquidation and prohibition of organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually."