Photo: search of Jehovah's Witnesses (archival photo)

Photo: search of Jehovah's Witnesses (archival photo)

Photo: search of Jehovah's Witnesses (archival photo)

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

In Tynda, security forces searched the homes of believers. Personal notes, postcards and Bibles were seized

Amur Region

On November 17, 2019, in Tynda (Amur Region), searches began in the homes of law-abiding citizens suspected of reading the Bible in the morning. They were conducted by two task forces that arrived from Blagoveshchensk.

Among the security forces were Police Major Valentin Fomin, representative of the FSB Directorate for the Amur Region Maxim Isaev and other operatives. One of the groups consisted of 6 people. It seems that the searches took place according to a pre-prepared list. It is known that representatives of the authorities came to at least 6 houses. They seized cell phones and laptops, personal notes, postcards, Bibles in the Synodal translation, and even a napkin with a beautiful illustration that seemed suspicious to them. Police Major Fomin tried in vain to start a conversation with the owners on a biblical topic. All those whose homes were inspected were invited for interrogation by the FSB of the city of Tynda.

Update. Later it became known that searches were carried out in 9 families of believers from Tynda. 12 people were interrogated by the FSB.

Earlier, 3 criminal cases against believers were initiated in the Amur Region: the case of Berchuk and Golik in Blagoveshchensk, the case of Moiseenko in Zeya and the case of Olshevsky and Ermilov in Blagoveshchensk.

The Case of Bukin and Others in Tynda

Case History
In 2018, in Tynda, FSB agent Nurakov, feigning an interest in the Bible, began attending meetings for worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses and collecting information about them. In November 2019, a criminal case was initiated against Sergey Yuferov, Valeriy Slashchev, Mikhail Burkov and Vladimir Bukin. A wave of searches took place in the town. The men were charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization and involving others in it. In June 2021, the case went to court. A year and a half later, the believers were sentenced from 6 years and 2 months to 6.5 years in a penal colony. In December 2022, the court of appeal overturned the verdict and sent the case for a new trial, and the believers were released from the pretrial detention center, where they had each spent 2 months. In June 2023, they were again sentenced to penal colonies: Bukin and Slashchev were given 6 years and 4 months each, Yuferov — 6 years and 3 months, and Burkov — 6 years and 1 month. Another court of appeal upheld this decision in August 2023. In May 2024, the court of cassation confirmed the verdict for all four Jehovah’s Witnesses from Tynda.
Timeline

Persons in case

Bukin
Vladimir
Burkov
Mikhail
Slashchev
Valeriy
Yuferov
Sergey

Criminal case

Region:
Amur Region
Locality:
Tynda
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, "organized meetings of followers... of the religious organizations"
Court case number:
11907100001000076
Initiated:
November 11, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate of Russia for the Amur Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-45/2023 (1-9/2022; 1-131/2021)
Court of First Instance:
Tyndinskiy District Court of the Amur Region
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Valentina Brikova
Case History
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