[{"body":"Another witness states that his affidavit contains falsifications: the investigator added names that were not mentioned during the interrogation.\nAnother prosecution witness notes that communication with Jehovah's Witnesses helped her elderly relative cope with the pain of loss due to the death of her husband.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Petrenko in Gorno-Altaysk","date":"2024-06-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gorno-altaysk2/index.html#20240621","regions":["altai"],"tags":["first-instance","fabrications","disabled"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 5, 2022, Vologda City Court Judge Yelena Golovanova found Nikolay Stepanov and Yuriy Baranov guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization and handed the believers a four-year prison and four-year suspended sentence respectively. Stepanov was taken into custody in the courtroom.\nThe trial went on for over six months. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor requested 7 years in prison for Nikolay Stepanov, and 7 years suspended sentence for Yuriy Baranov. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The men insist on their complete innocence.\nIn December 2019, massive searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Vologda, after which Stepanov and Baranov were detained. For more than two years, the senior investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Vologda Region A. A. Nesterov investigated their case.\nYuriy Baranov was under house arrest for more than 3 months. Under house arrest, the believer lived in a one-room apartment with a disabled mother, 94. Due to the stress of the persecution, Baranov's heart problems worsened and he was hospitalized. In view of his weakened health, investigator Nesterov released Yuriy uder recognizance agreement. Addressing the court with the last word, the believer noted: “The manifestation of enmity, violence and hatred is incompatible with my views. I respect representatives of other religions and nationalities. I don't understand why I'm accused of a crime. Obviously, the only reason is faith.”\nNikolay Stepanov spent 8 months in a pre-trial detention center, and then a month and a half under house arrest. Stepanov said: \"The most difficult thing was to be in a confined space every day, where everyone smokes.\" In addition, Nikolay was not allowed to see his family—only once was he allowed to call his son. Addressing the court with the last word, Nikolay emphasized: “Jehovah's Witnesses do not take up arms and do not learn to fight, we love all people and do not want to cause harm and suffering to anyone. For this reason, extremism is alien to me.”\nThe defendants said that they were greatly supported by those who came to court hearings and showed interest in the outcome of the case. Nikolay Stepanov added that letters gave him strength, the number of which reached 1150 during his imprisonment. According to fellow believers, Stepanov and Baranov have many friends and are \"always ready to help.\"\nDespite the fact that the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued a ruling in defense of the right of Jehovah's Witnesses to hold divine services and joint religious rites and ceremonies, the persecution of believers in the country does not stop.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-09-05T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_8674198a6a0277b2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_47ebc02597cbae3c.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_ea95335375862ea6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_51c401fa6f4b1675.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/09/061424.html","regions":["vologda"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["elderly","282.2-1","sentence","suspended","liberty-deprivation","health-risk","letters","disabled"],"title":"Vologda-Based Yuriy Baranov, 70, Was Handed a Four-Year Suspended Sentence, and Nikolay Stepanov, 48, Was Handed a Four-Year Prison Sentence for Their Belief in God","type":"news"},{"body":"The searches that took place in Moscow and Moscow region on October 20, 2021, were not without violations of the rights of special categories of citizens — sick and pensioners. According to eyewitnesses, at times the security forces resorted to groundless threats, and one of the task forces took an unhealthy man away for questioning only because his mother was a Jehovah's Witness.\nAs a reminder, as a result of the raids, three Jehovah's Witnesses were detained, two of them — Roman Mareyev and Sergey Tolokonnikov — were sent to a pre-trial detention center.\nAs the believers said, during the searches, on the whole, the operatives behaved respectfully, but there were exceptions. For example, in one of the cases, the security forces came to a believing woman early in the morning when she was at work. She had to hurriedly return home, because the unexpected visit greatly frightened her sick son, a disabled person of the II group, suffering from mental illness. To avoid aggravating her son's condition, the woman asked law enforcement officers let her son not be present during the search and to wait at her neighbor's, but she was refused. She says: “My son was stressed. He hit the wall with his fist and kept asking: 'Won't you take me away?'\nAlthough the security forces did not want to take the believer's son away for interrogation, at the insistence of their superiors, they nevertheless brought both of them to the police station. “The son was nervous and cried loudly,” the woman said. During the interrogation, the investigators asked the detainees to describe Jehovah's Witnesses, express their \"attitude towards priests,\" and also inform them if they saw fellow believers at home.\nA group of six security officials broke into the apartment of a 71-year-old believer and her husband with diabetes mellitus at 6 a.m. The operatives violently searched woman's room: they threw all things out of the closets and turned over the beds. They confiscated a tablet, a telephone, a hard drive and unbanned editions of the Bible in the Synodal Translation and Archimandrite Macarius' translation from the hostess. Mockery and threats were poured at the believer. The law enforcers said: “You are extremists! You will go to jail. \" After a three-hour search, the spouses were taken for interrogation, despite the elderly woman's poor health and high temperature.\nOn the same morning, a task force of 6 people came to the 83-year-old believer. The officers confiscated from her a laptop, an e-book, a telephone, a Bible in the translation of Archimandrite Macarius, letters, several photographs and a postcard. After an almost 4-hour search, the believer was taken to the police station. The electronic devices were returned to the pensioner on the same day.\nThus, after new searches, already seven believers from Moscow and the Moscow region are in jail. One of them, Sean Pike, faced manifestations of domestic racism there.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2021-11-01T11:03:03+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_af9d50ad38809c4e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_9855f7b3bb34416d.jpg","webp":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_31cfdaa728b01de8.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_c1b3bcdae15553fb.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/11/011103.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","disabled","sizo","interrogation","elderly","disability"],"title":"During Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, Security Forces Detained a Disabled Person with a Mental Disorder and Threatened the Elderly","type":"news"},{"body":"Searches are being conducted in at least 6 families of believers, including a disabled person of group I. During the searches, electronic devices, bank cards, Bibles of various translations, postcards and photographs were seized. 11 people, including 27-year-old Igor Myslyon, 57-year-old Nikolai Ter-Avanesov, 52-year-old Mikhail Kopytov, were taken for interrogation to the FSB Directorate and later released.\n","caseTitle":"Kopytov's case in Kaliningrad","date":"2020-07-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaliningrad/index.html#20200711","regions":["kaliningrad"],"tags":["search","interrogation","disabled"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Kirov Regional Court releases Vladimir Korobeynikov under house arrest due to the illness of his wife and daughter, who have no one to take care of.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Korobeynikov in Kirov","date":"2018-10-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kirov4/index.html#20181020","regions":["kirov"],"tags":["house-arrest","elderly","disabled"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"The most extraordinary and rare mother is awarded,\" these words begin the certificate of honor, signed on June 1, 2017 by the director of the Research Institute of Pediatrics, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Leila Namazova-Baranova. The diploma was presented to Melana Petrosyan, a resident of Ramenskoye (Moscow region). Together with her husband Suren, they are raising their 13-year-old beloved son David and have been helping him fight a serious illness for 9 years.\nThe award was given to Melana, among other things, \"... for the ability to heroically endure difficulties in the upbringing and treatment of not only her rare child, but also helping other families with the same children, giving love and hope for light and goodness and urging never to give up under any circumstances and life difficulties.\nAccording to family friends, Melania and Suren have always sought and sought the best medical treatment, refuting the myth that Jehovah's Witnesses allegedly \"refuse medical treatment.\" All these years, Melana and Suren were helped in overcoming difficulties by their faith, advice from the holy book of the Bible, and the support of fellow believers. The ban imposed on the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses made life much more difficult for David and his parents.\n","category":"opinions","date":"2017-08-29T17:33:46+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482_hu_d965e4cbe1528674.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482_hu_330930451a3992f4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482_hu_b27ebb44fda4cfc0.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/08/209.html","regions":["moscow_obl"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disabled","awards"],"title":"\"The most extraordinary and rare mother is awarded\"","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 31, 2017, at a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, the President of the country presented Valeriy and Tatyana Novik, Jehovah's Witnesses from Karelia, with the Order of Parental Glory. The award ceremony was also attended by six of Novikov's eight children.\nThe order is awarded to parents with many children who set an example in strengthening the institution of the family and raising children, form a socially responsible family, lead a healthy lifestyle, ensure the full and harmonious development of the personality of children, a high level of care for their health, education, physical, spiritual and moral development.\nIn response, speaking about the spiritual and moral development of children, Valery Novik quoted a text from the Bible, which serves as a guide for him as a parent: \"Guide the boy to the right path; he will not shy away from it, even when he is old\" (Proverbs 22:6).\n","category":"opinions","date":"2017-06-06T06:20:22+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/06/176/novik_hu_fd1a40a2f93cd200.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/06/176/novik.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/06/176/novik_hu_b3171f3f26c85725.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/06/176/novik_hu_1225a18b2d2981c7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/06/176.html","regions":["karelia"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disabled","gratitude"],"title":"A family of Jehovah's Witnesses received the order from the hands of the head of state","type":"news"},{"body":"The support provided by Jehovah's Witnesses for persons with disabilities in their worship buildings has been welcomed by the State of Haiti, which is adjacent to the Dominican Republic. The believers received one of the awards from the hands of the Prime Minister of the country!\nThe first award was received back in 2013, when Haiti was recovering from an earthquake that caused numerous casualties and injuries. The Christian Association of Jehovah's Witnesses Haiti was awarded for its worship building in Les Cayes, which was built to meet the needs of the disabled. In December 2015, another award was received for providing the deaf and blind with modern digital technologies, such as sign language videos and educational literature in Braille.\nRussian Jehovah's Witnesses follow the high standards of their fellow believers abroad. For example, Kingdom Halls are equipped with ramps, widened doors, and wheelchair accessible toilets. In addition to people with limited mobility, hearing-impaired, deaf, visually impaired and blind people receive everything they need to fully participate in worship services. According to the Bible, mercy is one of the most important Christian virtues.\n","category":"opinions","date":"2016-11-25T15:28:38+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02_hu_59c5be636f5b6d76.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02.jpg","webp":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02_hu_50b4ee5ea74b509f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02_hu_fabb699a082dc367.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2016/11/67.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disabled","construction","maintenance","help-providing","gratitude","awards"],"title":"State Awards for Supporting Persons with Disabilities in Haiti","type":"news"}]