Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

In Four Cities of Crimea, Homes of Believers were Searched. A Criminal Case has Been Initiated

Crimea

On August 14 and 16, 2023, at least nine searches in homes of Jehovah's Witnesses took place in four cities of Crimea — Armyansk, Simferopol, Saki and Dzhankoy.

In Simferopol, a search took place at the home of Yekaterina Melniychuk. She became unwell and her husband's blood pressure rose. Yekaterina was informed that a criminal case had been initiated against her. She was interrogated and released under a recognizance agreement.

Dmitriy Zakharevich, son-in-law of Aleksandr Voronchikhin, a defendant in one of the cases for their faith in Simferopol, was also searched. On the same day, he received a ruling charging him as a defendant in a criminal case. Based on the motion of investigator V. A. Novikov, the court placed him and another believer under house arrest.

In Armyansk, law enforcement officers searched both homes of a believer. After that, he was taken for interrogation. In Saki, seven law enforcement officers in balaclavas, four of whom were armed, conducted a 2-hour search of the house of a 62-year-old believer. Electronic devices were seized from him.

The details of the searches in Dzhankoy are yet unknown.

At this moment, 25 residents of Crimea have been prosecuted for their faith. Six of them are serving their sentences in a penal colony.

The Case of Voronchikhin and Others in Simferopol

Case History
In November 2022, mass searches in homes of believers took place in the Simferopol District of Crimea, as a result of which a criminal case was initiated. Aleksandr Voronchikhin was interrogated and placed under a recognizance agreement. The Investigative Committee charged him of organizing the activity of an extremist organization, calling peaceful meetings for worship a crime. In August 2023, new searches took place in Armyansk, Simferopol and Saki, including at the homes of Voronchikhin’s son-in-law, Dmitriy Zakharevich. He, as well as Aleksandr Kopylets, Ekaterina Demidova and several other Jehovah’s Witnesses became suspects in the case. Later, cases of four believers were made into separate proceedings. Zakharevich and Kopylets spent more than 8 months under house arrest, after which they were placed under recognizance agreements. In November 2023, the case went to court but was later returned to the prosecutor. After 7 months, the retrial of the case in court began.
Timeline

Persons in case

Demidova
Yekaterina
Kopylets
Aleksandr
Zakharevich
Dmitriy
Voronchikhin
Aleksandr

Criminal case

Region:
Crimea
Locality:
Simferopol
Suspected of:
"took organizational actions, by organizing propaganda meetings, at which discussions were held about the texts and religious provisions of Jehovah's Witnesses" (from the decision to initiate a criminal case)
Court case number:
12202350020000180
Initiated:
November 17, 2022
Current case stage:
trial in court of first instance
Investigating:
First Investigative Department for Investigating Especially Important Cases of the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2), 282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1-321/2024
Court of First Instance:
Simferopolskiy District Court
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Aleksandr Serdyuk
Case History
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