Photo source: londondeposit / depositphotos.com

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

Two more believers were detained in Kursk. Earlier, a woman and two men had already been sent to the Kursk pre-trial detention center

Kursk Region

On January 21, 2020, believers were detained in Kursk: 40-year-old Aleksandr Vospitanyuk and 32-year-old Andrey Ryshkov. The question of the measure of restraint will be decided in court on January 23. Since mid-October, Kurians Artem and Alevtina Bagratyan and their friend Andrei Andreev have also been languishing behind bars.

Andrey Ryshkov was invited to the FSB building for interrogation as a witness. However, already on the spot, the security forces declared him a suspect. It is not yet known what exactly. Under similar circumstances, Aleksandr Vospitanyuk was detained. Details are still unknown.

In October and November 2019, several waves of searches and detentions of local residents suspected of joint worship of Jehovah took place in Kursk. Artyom Bagratyan, who is in pre-trial detention, has his health deteriorated sharply.

Law enforcement officers interpret the confession of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses as a continuation of the activities of 396 legal organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses banned in Russia, although the courts did not prohibit the faith itself.