A New Wave of Searches in Tatarstan. A Criminal Case for Faith Initiated, 16 People Interrogated

On April 13, 2023, from 6 a.m., officers from the Internal Affairs Directorate and the FSB searched 10 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Almetyevsk and interrogated 16 people. A criminal case has been initiated on charges of extremism.

During the searches, electronic devices were confiscated from believers, as well as Bibles in various translations and postcards with Bible quotations. In one case, bank cards were also taken from the family. The searches lasted for 6 hours and were conducted under the supervision of FSB officers from Kazan. In most cases, the law enforcement officers behaved correctly.

In the building of the Internal Affairs Directorate, some believers were kept until 10 p.m. Law enforcement officers tried to persuade the men and women to incriminate themselves and others. They used the Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which allows them not to testify against themselves and their close ones. After the interrogations, they were all released.

So far, it is not known against whom exactly the criminal case has been initiated under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Copies of the protocols of the search and interrogation were given only to some of the believers. One of them was interrogated in the FSB building.

Another 13 Jehovah's Witnesses are prosecuted in Tatarstan for their faith. One of them, Konstantin Sannikov, was sent to a penal colony in February 2023 for 6.5 years.

The head of the Center for Religion and Society  Studies, Roman Lunkin, speaks about the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation: "The case of the Jehovah's Witnesses has for long years been the occasion for accusations against Russia of violation of freedom of conscience and of simple common sense".