Kemerovo FSB detained the third believer in the region

On February 6, 2019, FSB officers detained 35-year-old Hasan Kogut, a resident of the city of Berezovsky (Kemerovo region). The issue of choosing a preventive measure for him is being decided.

Earlier, in July 2018, searches were carried out in the city in the homes of citizens who are suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Vadim Levchuk and Sergey Britvin, who have been in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in the Kemerovo region for more than 200 days, were arrested.

As it turned out, Hasan Kogut and his wife arrived at the Investigative Department of the FSB of Russia in the Kemerovo region on a call from an investigator who promised to give his laptop, seized during the July searches. Upon arrival, he was detained.

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."