A Family of Believers From Crimea Has Been Subjected to Religious Repression for the Third Time. Viktor Ursu, 58, Was Placed Under House Arrest After Two Weeks Behind Bar

On July 28, 2023, security forces invaded the home of a family of believers in the town of  Dzhankoy. Viktor Ursu, 58, was detained. On August 9, after two weeks in a detention center, the Dzhankoy District Court decided to put the man under house arrest.

Viktor lives with his elderly parents. Aleksandr Ursu, 83, who was rehabilitated as a victim of Soviet repression, was mistreated during a raid on Jehovah's Witnesses in 2018.

The "inspection of the premises" (in fact, a search), which involved eleven law enforcement officers in masks and with weapons, began at 6 a.m. Viktor and his wife were not allowed to get dressed for some time. The security forces, who refused to show their identity cards, seized all electronic devices and storage media.

Viktor Ursu was detained and taken to a temporary detention center in Dzhankoy. The wife of the arrested man was not allowed to see her husband and give him necessary things like food and medicines.

Immediately after the completion of the operational actions, friends and acquaintances came to support the family. They helped clean the house after the search, brought food, and provided emotional support to the believers.

On August 7, Viktor Ursu was released from the temporary detention facility, but then was immediately detained again. He was taken to the local Department of the Investigative Committee, and then back to the temporary detention facility. On the same day, the investigator issued a decision to initiate a criminal case against Viktor Ursu under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In the 1940s, Aleksandr Ursu's father, uncle, and grandfather were exiled to labor camps because they were Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1947 only his father returned from exile, and with a serious injury. In July 1949, the Ursu family, including nine-year-old Aleksandr, were loaded into cattle cars and along with thousands of other believers sent to permanent settlement in Siberia.

Later, Aleksandr Ursu was repeatedly subjected to various forms of pressure from the state security agencies, including searches. On May 21, 1991, the believer was rehabilitated in accordance with the decree "On additional measures to restore justice for the victims of repressions that took place in the 1930's and1940's, and into the early 1950's".

Rehabilitation certificate No. 23 was issued to Aleksandr Ursu on June 17, 1991. Then in November 2018, when the believer was already 78, security forces again broke into his house, pressed him against the wall, and handcuffed him. At the same time searches in the homes of other local believers were carried out as part of a criminal case against Sergey Filatov, who was later sentenced to six years and is now serving time for his faith in a penal colony.