New Searches Were Carried Out at the Homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Barnaul. One Believer Placed Under House Arrest

On July 29, 2023, the home of the family of 37-year-old Valeriy Klokov was searched in Barnaul. Law enforcement officers detained the believer for 48 hours, after which the Oktyabrskiy District Court placed him under house arrest. On August 2, raids took place at two more addresses.

Law enforcement officers arrived at the Klokovs at lunchtime. Communication equipment, a laptop, flash drives, passports for international travel, personal notes and postcards were seized. The search lasted approximately two hours. Then Valeriy was taken for interrogation to the Investigative Directorate of the RF Investigative Committee for the Altai Territory.

Yevgeniy Kozyuchenko, senior investigator for the investigation of especially important cases, who had previously initiated the criminal prosecution of Pavel Kazadaev, charged Valeriy Klokov with a crime under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code (participating in the activity of an extremist organization). The investigation believes that since 2021, Klokov and other unidentified persons “carried out actions to support the existence of the local religious organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses Barnaul, including by holding conversations in order to promote the activity of this organization and participating in events held by representatives of the organization". This is how law enforcement officers interpret conversations on Bible topics between fellow believers.

So far,six Jehovah's Witnesses in the Altai Territory have been repressed by the authorities for their peaceful beliefs. Two of them - Andrey Danielyan and Pavel Kazadaev - have been sentenced.