[{"body":"Rakhmanov, acting head of the FSB's internal security unit, responds to a complaint from Igor Popov's wife, who claimed that her husband was tortured: \"No violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation have been established in the actions of the FSB officers.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Balashov and Popov in Dimitrovgrad","date":"2026-03-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/dimitrovgrad/index.html#20260327","regions":["ulyanovsk"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\u0026quot;They imprison less, but more severely\u0026quot; — that was the headline of a similar review a year ago, when statistics gave hope that the repression against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia if not subsiding, was at least losing intensity. A year later, it is clear that this is not the case. In 2025, the number of raids, new criminal defendants, and incidents of unprovoked violence against believers has increased. In more than 8 years of persecution, the total prison terms handed down have exceeded 1,000 years. This article looks at the human stories which are masked by the dry reports of \u0026quot;crusaders against extremism\u0026quot; — extremism that has never been proven — and at what Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia have faced during the past year.\nMillennium of Incarceration Aleksey Lelikov has devoted nearly his entire life to music. For many years, he taught piano and, in 1994, even reached the finals of the \u0026quot;Teacher of the Year\u0026quot; competition in Krasnodar. Around the same time, Aleksey became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. He had never had any trouble with the law. Yet in February 2025, on indiscriminate charges of extremism, a court sentenced the disabled 64-year-old believer to 6.5 years imprisonment.\nAleksey is just one among 906 individuals whose lives have been irrevocably changed by prosecution for their faith. During 8.5 years of persecution, more than 500 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — men and women — have served time behind bars, and 179 remain imprisoned to this day. Verdicts have been issued against 665 believers. Of these, 215 people (32%) received prison sentences — 146 of them (68%) were sentenced to 5 years or more. The combined length of prison terms totals 1,128 years.\nIn 2025, 107 searches (5 more than the previous year) were conducted, bringing the total to 2,268 — on average 1 search every 30 hours. The number of new defendants also rose compared to 2024: 61 as opposed to 53. During the past year, 125 believers were convicted. Of these 38 were sentenced to prison, with the overwhelming majority — 30 (nearly 80%) — receiving more than 5 years. The harshest sentence that year — 7 years in a penal colony — was handed down to four believers: Yevgeniy Sokolov from Voronezh, Samvel Babayan from Samara, Ivan Neverov from Saransk, and Igor Lonchakov from Vladivostok. Yevgeniy and Samvel suffer from serious illnesses and Igor is disabled.\nSuspended sentences were given to 49 people (39%), and 37 were fined amounts ranging from 250,000 to 650,000 rubles.\nLast year 16 believers completed their prison terms and were released. Among them was Aleksandr Seredkin, 71. He was freed only after it was discovered he has advanced cancer. \u0026quot;I\u0026#39;m still young,\u0026quot; he joked, adding: \u0026quot;I want to recover and finish the Christian race to the end.\u0026quot;\nTorture, Violence, and Real Victims Search and arrest. Illustrative photo. In 2025, there were at least eight cases of unprovoked violence and cruel treatment against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — including incidents that meet the definition of torture under the UN Convention.\nDuring more than 8 years of persecution, already over 70 believers have suffered such abuse. None of these crimes have been properly investigated, and none of the perpetrators have faced the punishment prescribed by law.\nDuring the year, three elderly believers who were criminally prosecuted passed away: Liliya Dolinina, Lyudmila Shut, and Valeriy Baylo. Valeriy died in the actual detention center, never having received the medical care he needed. In total, the number of deaths in connection wtih the criminal prosecution has reached 16.\n\u0026quot;I Wish You Many Happy Years in Your Loving Family Home...\u0026quot; Disabled Anatoliy Yevtushenko says goodbye to his family after being sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony. Krasnodar, December 2025. At least 81 prosecuted individuals have documented serious health conditions, 34 are officially disabled. Today, 36 seriously ill believers are held in penal colonies and pretrial detention centers, where access to proper medical care is often impossible.\nThe disability of Boris Andreyev, 74, was recognized when he was already in the penal colony. The court sentenced him to 6 years, fully aware of his serious illness — already during the preliminary investigation a precancerous condition requiring regular medical monitoring was identified. Boris was unable to obtain a full medical examination for more than a year in detention and his condition worsened. Only in 2025 did a medical commission confirm the diagnosis — cancer. Boris underwent a course of treatment.\nCongratulatory Certificate from the Mayor of Moscow to the Marunov family on their anniversary Anatoliy Marunov, 72, is serving a 6.5-year sentence in a penal colony. Even before his imprisonment, he had suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with heart failure, hypertension, and a prostate tumor. When his wife visited him in the penal colony in the Tambov Region and saw his condition, she was alarmed. \u0026quot;I was terrified,\u0026quot; Alfia said. \u0026quot;He was covered in tubes, catheters, bags... It\u0026#39;s no longer a person, but a living corpse...\u0026quot; In January 2025, Anatoliy needed surgery, but it could not be performed in that region. The court refused to reduce his sentence despite doctors\u0026#39; conclusions that his life was at risk. In October, he was hospitalized, and in December, a medical commission confirmed his disability. Meanwhile, the court of cassation upheld the verdict, refusing to attach documents about his condition to the case. Today, Anatoliy receives only limited medical care. In bitter irony, Moscow City Hall recently sent the separated Marunov family a congratulatory letter on their 50th wedding anniversary. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin praised the elderly couple as an example for young people and wished them \u0026quot;many happy years in their loving family home.\u0026quot;\nAlmost one-third of those prosecuted for their faith (266 people) are over 60. The same proportion applies to new defendants in 2025 (19 out of 60). Currently, 37 elderly believers remain behind bars. Samvel Babayan, 53, from Samara was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. At the time of his arrest, he was preparing for major surgery, but treatment was canceled. Soon after, his chronical illnesses of his internal organs, including a tumor, worsened. He suffers constant spinal pain, has lost 15 kilograms and hearing in one ear. For more than a year, Samvel remained in pretrial detention without proper medical care. He now awaits transfer to a penal colony, where adequate treatment is impossible. Severe pain plagued him even during court hearings. The defense requested fewer sessions, but the court refused. At one hearing, Samvel lost consciousness and an ambulance was called — yet the trial was not postponed.\nSecret \u0026quot;Pastor\u0026quot; Across the country, law enforcement agencies spy on believers, including using agents who feign an interest in the Bible. For months — sometimes years — they secretly record conversations and later testify in court as anonymous witnesses.\nAt least 30 criminal cases have been built on false testimony from such informants. One agent, Yekaterina Petrova, spied on a group of 17 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, including elderly people. Her testimony led to prison sentences of up to 8 years. Another example: nearly all criminal cases in the village of Vyselki, Krasnodar Territory, were fabricated through the efforts of an agent known in court under the pseudonym \u0026quot;Pastor\u0026quot;.\nThe cases of Viktor Spirichev (left) and Sergey Dvurechenskiy (right) are based on testimony from \u0026quot;Pastor.\u0026quot; Both were sentenced on the same day: 2 years suspended. Vyselki, December 2025. All that the testimony of these spies managed to prove was that the believers discussed the Bible and prayed to Jehovah. During hearings, often the agents end up giving testimony in favor of the defense during hearings. \u0026quot;I, for example, never heard the defendant say that other religions are bad,\u0026quot; Pastor admitted at Spirichev\u0026#39;s trial, where Viktor was later given a suspended sentence. Sergey Dvurechenskiy said about this witness: \u0026quot;He\u0026#39;s doing this for some reason — resentment or something else. That\u0026#39;s his business. It's not for me to judge... There\u0026#39;s still some hope that he\u0026#39;ll come to his senses.\u0026quot;\n\u0026quot;The KGB used exactly the same tactics during the Soviet-era ban on Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. It\u0026#39;s all in the archives and repeatedly documented by historians,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. \u0026quot;What did these spies uncover? The same as now: Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are not enemies of society or the state. In 1991, a law was passed to rehabilitate victims of repression, and in 1996, a presidential decree explicitly instructed the Prosecutor General\u0026#39;s Office, FSB, and Interior Ministry to ensure rehabilitation of citizens harmed by terror. Today\u0026#39;s authorities cannot claim ignorance of this.\u0026quot;\nGold Mine Yevgeniy and Tatyana Dodolin. They have been in pretrial detention since spring 2025. \u0026quot;It seems that for law enforcement agnecies, the tactic of targeting entire families has become a gold mine: why go after real criminals? That\u0026#39;s dangerous. It\u0026#39;s much easier to go after the relatives of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who are already under investigation. Most believers have strong family ties, so chances are — husband, wife, son, daughter — they also read and discuss the Bible. It really looks like that\u0026#39;s exactly what investigators are doing,\u0026quot; commented one lawyer who has helped defend the rights of believers in numerous criminal cases.\nIn 2025, criminal cases were initiated against four married couples: Nikolay and Larisa Kosov from Cherkessk (under travel restrictions), as well as Tomsk residents Yevgeniy and Tatyana Dodolin, Yevgeniy and Yana Abramov, Aysulu Tastaybekova and Vladimir Pushkov (all currently in pretrial detention). The numbers of believers prosecuted after their family members grew to include Yelena Shestopalova (mother of Vladlena Kukavitsa) and Mariya Pankova (wife of Sergey Tolokonnikov).\nAt least 172 Jehovah's Witnesses who have been prosecuted have one or more relatives who faced similar circumstances. Moscow resident Sergey Tolokonnikov hugs his wife after his release. The court found her guilty for her faith 5 months later. June 2025. \u0026quot;I was getting ready to attend the trial of my daughter Vladlena,\u0026quot; Yelena Shestopalova recalled the events in October. \u0026quot;An early ring at the door surprised me: \u0026#39;Could it really be a search on the very day of the trial?\u0026#39; I had already gone through one search. I understood they could come again and initiate a case — it was only a matter of time.\u0026quot; She added: \u0026quot;My life has changed a lot, but I never lost my joy and always believed that Jehovah would not abandon me during my troubles.\u0026quot;\nCases in an Endless Cycle Trials against many Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have become an endless cycle: cases are sent back to the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office, then the trial starts over; appeals overturn decisions, judges recuse themselves, the wait for a verdict drags on for years. This has happened in at least 33 criminal cases.\nAnother extreme: after securing a conviction, law enforcement agencies initiate yet another criminal case against the same believer. Some become defendants again while serving suspended sentences (such as Aleksandr Serebryakov or Oleg Postnikov). Others face new charges while already in a penal colony.\nDmitriy Terebilov at one of the hearings. January 2022. A telling example is Dmitriy Terebilov: he was prosecuted for answering a cellmate\u0026#39;s questions about faith. In addition to the 3 years he had already served in a penal colony, the prosecutor requested another 10. \u0026quot;What\u0026#39;s criminal about sharing your thoughts about God, discussing a passage from the Bible, or some scientific or historical fact?\u0026quot; he expressed his bewilderment during one of the hearings.\nCurrently, the maximum prison term handed down to one of Jehovah's Witnesses is 8 years — there are six such prisoners of conscience today. In reality, unjust punishment doesn\u0026#39;t end even after release from a penal colony — believers continue to face additional restrictions. As a result, the actual duration of repression can exceed 20 years. For example, the prosecution of Dmitriy Barmakin began in July 2018. After lengthy investigations and numerous court hearings, he was sent to a penal colony, from which he should be released in November 2029. After that, he will be under restriction of freedom for another year, followed by 10 years of administrative oversight. In total, if nothing changes, the persecution of Dmitriy and his family will stretch to 22 years.\nLife on Hold Losing their freedom is not the only hardship faced by Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who are being persecuted. The state employs numerous methods to infringe upon their rights. For example, before a verdict is reached, defendants are almost always subjected to some form of preventive measure: they are often forbidden to leave their homes (even briefly) without official permission, to use communication devices, and sometimes even to speak with family members.\nRead more about repressive measures in criminal prosecution in the article: What Restrictions Are Faced by Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia? Suspended sentences are the most common form of punishment for Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — since 2017, 331 believers have been given such sentences. This type of verdict always includes a probation period ranging from 6 months to 5 years, during which the individual must \u0026quot;prove his correction\u0026quot; by exemplary behavior. If law enforcement agencies deem that the believer has committed any serious violations, the court can easily replace the suspended sentence with actual imprisonment.\nAleksey and Yuliya Pasynkov Such restrictions inevitably affect the families of those being prosecuted. Aleksey and Yuliya Pasynkov were both given suspended sentences in 2025. They are raising a son with a severe disability. \u0026quot;Even before the prosecution began, we had planned trips to doctors in Moscow and St. Petersburg — all of this has now been delayed for several years. Now we are limited as to how we can move forward with his treatment,\u0026quot; Aleksey said before his wife\u0026#39;s verdict was announced.\nBoth parents have been added to the so-called list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring. At various times, this list has included the names of 741 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, and 570 remain on it today. For those on the list, even simple everyday tasks become significantly harder. People in poor health and the elderly are especially vulnerable — they may face difficulties paying for medical services or receiving social assistance.\n\u0026quot;To collect my salary, I have to go to the bank twice a month. Sometimes I have to endure humiliation, explaining to the staff that I\u0026#39;m not an extremist,\u0026quot; explained Maksim Beltikov, a father of three. He served 2 years in a penal colony but still feels the consequences of the unjust prosecution.\n\u0026quot;They Will Deport Him — What About His Family?\u0026quot; A new trend that has been gaining momentum over the past year is revoking the citizenship of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses under prosecution. The procedure is simple: if a convicted believer\u0026#39;s citizenship had been acquired, it is simply annulled shortly after the verdict takes effect. At least 12 people have faced this situation.\nWhat does this mean in practice for believers and their families? Some again risk religious discrimination now in their country of birth; others face indefinite separation from loved ones; some may even become stateless due to bureaucratic hurdles.\nRustam Diarov is one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses whose citizenship was revoked. Upon his release he faces deportation, to where — still unknown. Rustam\u0026#39;s wife and elderly mother are Russian citizens. His wife is disabled and depends on state-provided medication.\nMikhail Moysh with his wife and oldest son. A similar decision was made regarding Mikhail Moysh\u0026#39;s citizenship. He has been in custody since October 2021. Mikhail has two children; the younger was only a few months old when he was arrested. Since then, he has barely seen his sons. A deportation order could prolong this separation even further. Here\u0026#39;s how Moysh\u0026#39;s lawyer described the social dilemma:\n\u0026quot;One of his children was born here in Russia. And now, they will deport Moysh... What about his family? Do they have to leave too? And to where, if one child has almost finished school here and the other is still very young and an RF citizen by birth...\u0026quot;\n\u0026quot;These are just a few examples of the human drama hidden behind dry numbers,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \u0026quot;History and today\u0026#39;s persecution prove only one thing: Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are being targeted without cause. But repression has not crushed their faith. So, we can be sure that, as the Bible says, \u0026#39;it will turn out well for those who fear the true God.\u0026#39;\u0026quot;\nNikolay Saparov, who was tortured during his arrest in spring 2022, has been behind bars for nearly 4 years. March 2025. Anatoliy Yevtushenko watches his friends and family as bailiffs lead him away in handcuffs from the courtroom. December 2025. Oksana Chausova, with tears of joy, shared her first moments of freedom with friends. September 2025. Dance of a free man. Artur Putintsev. April 2025. ","category":"analytics","date":"2026-01-08T08:21:40+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_4bf0f98c2051e909.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_99493c21d2de81cf.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_fd04654bdfaa2c3d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_21372a74e581e94e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/01/071621.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["review","search","torture","elderly","disability","prison-treatment","life-in-prison","minors","families","secret-witness","strict-conditions","health-risk","died"],"title":"A Thousand Years for Their Faith: Repression Against Jehovah’s Witnesses — 2025 Review","type":"news"},{"body":"FSB officers used violence against Mikhail Proshenkov in front of his minor son. \u0026quot;During the arrest, my glasses were broken and the investigator demanded the password for my phone,\u0026quot; he said. \u0026quot;They used a stun gun six times, then they twisted my hands and threw me on the floor.\u0026quot; In the fall of 2025, Mikhail was charged with extremism because of his faith.\nMikhail was born in April 1967 in Saratov. His mother is retired and lives in another city with her youngest son. Mikhail received a secondary technical education, worked at a factory, and later as a manager of a technical center. Before his arrest, as an individual entrepreneur, Proshenkov worked with insurance companies as an expert technician.\nAs a child, Mikhail practiced \"SAMBO\", a type of martial arts. He also loved to sing and play the guitar — which he still enjoys doing. He played volleyball for several years, but because of pain in his legs, he had to give it up. For a year before his arrest, he coached beginners in volleyball.\nSince 1987, Mikhail has been married to Irina. His wife works as a boiler room operator and enjoys drawing. They have three children — a daughter and two sons; the youngest is still studying at a technical school. The family loves traveling and hiking outdoors.\nMikhail was interested in the Bible from a young age and had many questions on spiritual topics. Later in his life he decided to leave his wife and family. During this period, he lived with his mother. Having once attended a meeting for worship of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses at her invitation, he thought about his life and realized that he needed to change and strengthen his marriage.\n\u0026quot;Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses invited me once to a picnic,\u0026quot; Mikhail recalls. \u0026quot;I was pleasantly surprised: ordinary people who sang with the guitar, played sports and talked about various things. The day flew by, I didn\u0026#39;t even think about cigarettes, although I was a heavy smoker.\u0026quot; Proshenkov became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in 1999. He said: \u0026quot;The Bible saved my family, I began to lead an honest lifestyle.\u0026quot;\nAfter Mikhail\u0026#39;s arrest, his wife had to take on heavy responsibilities: appealing to the authorities regarding torture, communicating with lawyers, packing and delivering parcels to the pretrial detention center. Later, Mikhail was placed under house arrest. He lost his well-paid job, and the financial support of the family fell on the shoulders of Irina. According to Mikhail, his wife\u0026#39;s health has suffered.\nDuring the arrest the law enforcement officers injured Mikhail\u0026#39;s shoulder and it hurt for a long time. Also, his arthritis got worse, he developed heart problems and a skin condition.\n","date":"2025-12-31","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/proshenkov/photo_hu_8f99936901c4c46f.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/proshenkov/photo_hu_3e9378d5a51d59f6.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/proshenkov/photo_hu_bb936ff1550f16aa.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/proshenkov/photo_hu_565f40db855a33af.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/proshenkov.html","regions":["saratov"],"tags":["torture"],"title":"Mikhail Proshenkov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"As reported by Mikhail Proshenkov, 58, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, he was subjected to brutal treatment during searches on September 3, 2025. His wife approached numerous authorities, demanding they urgently investigate the incident.\nAccording to members of the victim\u0026#39;s family, armed law enforcement officers broke into the apartment and knocked Mikhail face down to the floor, breaking his glasses. Without informing him of his rights and not allowing him to read the documents for the search, the investigator demanded access to the computer. Mikhail did not provide the password. For this, the believer was threatened with the use of force against him and his son. After he refused again, the law enforcement officers inflicted six shocks on Mikhail with a stun gun to the thigh, lower leg and abdomen. Following the search and interrogation, he was placed in a temporary detention facility, and then in pretrial detention center No. 1 in the Saratov Region.\nOn September 10, Irina Proshenkova, Mikhail\u0026#39;s wife, sent an application for an urgent medical examination to the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Saratov Region, as well as a report on the brutal treatment to the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Saratov Region, to the Prosecutor General\u0026#39;s Office of the Russian Federation, to the Prosecutor\u0026#39;s Office of the Saratov Region, to Tatyana Moskalkova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation and to Nadezhda Sukhova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Saratov Region.\n","category":"crime","date":"2025-09-03T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"svg":"/img/news/prison.svg"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/09/241447.html","regions":["saratov"],"subtitle":"Victim's Family Demands Crime Be Investigated","tags":["siloviks-violence","torture"],"title":"Stun Gun Used During Search in Saratov.","type":"news"},{"body":"Courts continue to send Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to prison, and the sentence of three of them has set a new record for severity. There have been cases of violence and torture, the proportion of the elderly among the \u0026quot;prisoners of conscience\u0026quot; has increased, there are people with severe disabilities, one of whom died shortly after the verdict; the trend of prosecuting entire families continues. Read about these and other findings for 2024 in this article.\nYear in numbers Judges announce the decision in the case of five believers in Moscow As of December 16, 2024, since the beginning of the year, Russian security forces have conducted at least 96 searches in the homes of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — 17 in Crimea being the highest number. The total number of raids since the ban reached 2157.\nDuring 2024, 41 persons were made defendants in new criminal cases, of which 19 went through various types of detention, 15 of them are still behind bars. Last year, criminal cases were initiated against 100 believers.\nSentences were handed down to 116 believers. 43 of them (37%) were sentenced to imprisonment (It is noteworthy that this year nine people were sent to forced labor as a punishment). Terms of more than five years were given to 24 people (or almost 56% of those sentenced to imprisonment).\nSince 2017, 842 people have already been prosecuted; 450 of them have spent at least 1 day in custody. Currently, 147 prisoners of conscience are behind bars, either already convicted or awaiting sentencing. Of the 27 prisoners released from colonies, 8 were released this year. Although they have served their main sentence, most continue to experience numerous difficulties due to additional restrictions imposed by the court, which can last up to eight years or sometimes even more. \u0026quot;The cumulative numbers and severity of custodial sentences are increasing. To put it simply, during this year they imprisoned less, but more severely,\u0026quot; Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, commented on the statistics.\nIn 2024, the court handed down record-breaking sentences against three Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Khabarovsk residents Nikolay Polevodov, Vitaliy Zhuk and Stanislav Kim received eight years and six months, eight years and four months, eight years and two months in a penal colony, respectively. After about three months the court of appeal changed the punishment from imprisonment to a suspended sentence for shorter terms. Therefore, the longest term in 2024 was given to Alexander Chagan from Tolyatti — eight years in a penal colony. All in all, six believers have received such a harsh sentence since 2017.\nThe administration of the pretrial detention center forwarded 93 letters to Nikolay Polevodov, which arrived after his release from detention Over the seven years of mass persecution of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, the number of people sentenced has reached 543, and 186 believers have been imprisoned. Almost 61% of them (113 people) received terms of more than five years.\nIn 13 regions of Russia, the average term of imprisonment is 6 years or more. This is especially true with the southern territories — the Astrakhan, Rostov, Volgograd Regions, Crimea, and Sevastopol. For comparison: according to the official statistics of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of Russia for 2023, of the 1297 people convicted for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, only 0.85% (11 people) were sentenced to terms of five to eight years. Most were sentenced to terms of two to three years. It seems that from the point of view of the Russian judicial system, Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are more dangerous than those who beat people to the point of disability. At the same time, hundreds of trials against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses accused of extremism have not confirmed a single fact of extremist activity on the part of the believers.\nHunting the Elderly Of the new defendants who appeared in 2024, eight are over 60 years old, the oldest is 74 (Nina Smirnova). In total, among those charged with extremism, 235 people (156 men and 79 women) belong to this age category — this is almost 28% of all those prosecuted. \u0026quot;Up until last December, this share was 26%, and it increased by 2% in 2024. It may not seem much, but there are real people behind the numbers, whose freedom, health and even life are under threat,\u0026quot; said Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \u0026quot;Unfortunately, during criminal proceedings, 9 elderly men and women have already died. One of them — Aleksandr Lubin who was seriously ill. He died a month after his verdict was announced.\u0026quot;\nDuring the court hearings, Lubin had to lie down on a bench to recover his breath \u0026quot;He was very anxious on the days of the court hearings. Afterwards he and his wife needed a couple of days to recover, he had to lie down almost all the time on these days,\u0026quot; Lubin\u0026#39;s lawyer said. \u0026quot;Over the course of the year, his illness progressed and in December he was hospitalized, where he stayed longer than usual. After discharge, his condition remained serious.\u0026quot;\nShortly before his death, Lubin said in court: \u0026quot;It was very painful for me to see how elderly witnesses were interrogated during court hearings in my case. The investigation seemed to deliberately select those who were over 80. They no longer see and hear well; they do not understand many words. Therefore, it gave the impression that the investigators drew up the interrogation protocols at their own discretion.\u0026quot;\nSince the beginning of the persecution, 13 believers have already died: 3 women and 10 men. As of the end of 2024, 27 believers over the age of 60 are being held in colonies, pretrial detention centers, and special detention centers for persons sentenced to forced labor. For example, Boris Andreyev, 73, who was sentenced to six years in a penal colony (he is suspected of having cancer), and Anatoliy Marunov, 71, who received six and a half years in a penal colony, remain behind bars. \u0026quot;The oldest of all the convicted Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses is Yuriy Yuskov. When the suspended sentence imposed on him ends, he will be 90 years old. The oldest defendant is Elena Zayshchuk, 90\u0026quot; said Yaroslav Sivulskiy.\nOne of the examples when the courts did not even try to create the appearance of legality of the process is the case of Tatyana Piskareva. She is 68 years old, and for the past few months she has been held in the correctional center at colony-settlement No 3 for the Oryol Region. In the spring of 2024, the court sentenced her to two and a half years of forced labor, a type of punishment that, as expressly stated in Article 53.1 of the Criminal Code, is not imposed on old-age pensioners. Tatyana mentioned this in her appeal. However, as said in the decision of the appeal court, \u0026quot;the requirements of Article 53.1 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation were observed by the court.\u0026quot;\nAndrey Vlasov participates in the court hearing via video conferencing from the penal colony Andrey Vlasov, 56, who has a severe disability, has already been in prison for more than two and a half years. He was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony, and the courts deny him early release, despite his rapidly deteriorating health. He is practically unable to move his joints. He experiences constant pain, which is why even everyday tasks — for example, putting on underwear — are very difficult. Some tasks that are simple for a healthy person are completely beyond Vlasov\u0026#39;s strength. He has already fallen several times and could not get up on his own. According to the surgeon, Andrey needs an operation. Failure to do so will lead to an ischemic stroke of the spinal cord and paralysis of the limbs.\nMoreover, the Russian law enforcement system is not lenient to those who are younger, but whose health also requires a special approach. Vladimir Fomin, 44, who is disabled, has been in a pretrial detention center since the end of March 2024. According to his lawyer, Fomin\u0026#39;s condition is getting worse — his chronic illnesses have been exacerbated, and there is no proper treatment. During one of the hearings, he lost consciousness, an ambulance had to be called.\nTorture and Violence In 2024, four cases of violence by law enforcement officers became known. Also, one case of torture in a place of detention was recorded against convicted Rinat Kiramov of Akhtubinsk. The prisoners demanded that Rinat give the names of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses living in Akhtubinsk.\nRinat Kiramov speaks in court Rinat\u0026rsquo;s wife Galina is waiting in the corridor for the decision of the court of cassation Did the pressure achieve its goal? \u0026quot;After beatings and torture, Rinat does not feel that he is a victim. On the contrary, he feels great joy, because he endured everything with dignity, \u0026quot;said Kiramov\u0026#39;s wife Galina shortly after the events described.\nDuring raids in Omsk in March 2024, security forces beat Sergey Rygaev and Leonid Pyzhov.\nIn the same month, during a search in Tolyatti, Sergey Fedorov was beaten and detained. He is still behind bars.\nOn September 16, during raids in Samara, law enforcement officers had been using force against one of the believers for several hours. At some point, the man lost consciousness.\nOn December 5, during searches in Moscow, the security forces hit one believer on the head and abdomen, and broke his nose.\nProsecution of Families Vladimir and Anastasiya Anufriyev, as well as two other families involved in the case, can now only see each other during trials, in a special box for defendants The number of families where more than one person was prosecuted for their faith has exceeded 80. At least nine of them were added in 2024. In one of the cases, three married couples were made defendants at once — Vladimir and Anastasiya Anufriyev, Viktor and Alena Chernobaev, as well as Andrey Mikholap and his wife Oksana. All of them are in pretrial detention at the time of writing.\nIn December 2024 , Kristina Golik, Valentina Yermilova and Yekaterina Olshevskaya were sentenced to forced labor. Earlier, their husbands received long prison terms and are serving their sentences in a penal colony. Before the verdict was announced Yekaterina stated in court: \u0026quot;My husband and my father are imprisoned under the same article. I can see my husband only a few times a year. My son, who is four years old, misses his dad very much and is constantly worried that I will also be sent to prison. Every time he accompanies me to court, my young son asks: \u0026#39;Mom, will you return home today?\u0026#39;\u0026quot;\nIn January 2024, the court separated Aram Danielyan from his wife and young son. The believer was sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony Similar concerns were expressed by Kristina Golik: \u0026quot;My husband will be released in 2027, after which his freedom will be restricted for another year, and he will have a further eight years of administrative supervision. If I am given a prison sentence, then I will have to serve it... The question is: after how many years will we be reunited? I\u0026#39;m scared to even think about it.\u0026quot;\nHowever, the issue of destroying the families of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses turned out to be insignificant for the court — if the sentence enters into force, the believers will have to serve their sentences in a special institution for carrying out forced labor.\nRepressions Against Convicted Persons With the passage of time, law enforcement officers find new ways to put pressure on those who are imprisoned for their faith. For the first time since 2017, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses Viktor Stashevsky ended up in regular prison (not to confuse with a penal colony). Prior to that, he was held under strict detention conditions on the basis of penalties, most of which he was unaware of.\nDetention in strict conditions of imprisonment — placement in a punishment cell, CTF and SCTF — is a frequent practice in the cases of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. According to the rules, a prisoner should not be kept in such a room for more than 15 days, but in practice the punishment is extended, so that believers are kept in strict conditions for months. For example, Alam Aliyev, sentenced to six and a half years in a penal colony, has already been held for almost six months under strict detention conditions in IK-8 for the Amur Region. This is not compatible with the state of his health — he has diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, cardiac and neurological disorders.\nOften, the conditions for imprisoned Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are hardened on the basis of fabricated or far-fetched violations. The reason may be an unfastened button or the absence of a tag with the prisoner\u0026#39;s name on the cabinet. Sometimes the prisoner does not even know what violations he is charged with. Such penalties are used as grounds for denying believers visits from relatives and make it almost impossible for them to be released on parole. It happens that in a particular colony there is no room corresponding to the punishment. In this case, prisoners are transported to another (sometimes remote) region, to a colony where such a room exists. This limits the possibility to see relatives and receive parcels.\nConcerned people support those who are unjustly convicted with letters. However, censorship does not allow everything to pass through, cutting out or crossing out part of the text There are also specific methods of pressure — when believers are deprived of the opportunity to read the Bible. Often this is done under the pretext that the book does not have a stamp of approval from the Russian Orthodox Church. In the case of Andrey Danielyan and the abovementioned Rinat Kiramov, the FSIN officers went even further — personal copies of the Bible were seized not only from them, but also from all other prisoners. Kiramov\u0026#39;s relatives said that before that, other convicts lent Rinat their copies, but the colony staff forbade them to do so. Not only the Bible was confiscated from Danielyan, but also a personal notebook with quotes from this book.\nPracticing their religion can even result in a new term for a prisoner, as in the case of Dmitriy Terebilov from Kostroma. He became acquainted with the Bible many years ago in the penal colony. Thanks to his new knowledge, Dmitriy changed so much that the administration of the institution itself petitioned for his early release. After his release he became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Later, Dmitriy was convicted again, this time for his faith. On September 5, his term of imprisonment expired but he was not freed. A new criminal case was initiated against him for answering questions from a cellmate about the beliefs of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Now Dmitry is in a pretrial detention center and awaiting another trial. He faces an extension of his term from three to 10 years.\nNew Acquittal In 2024, Ruslan Atakuyev, judge of the Mayskiy District Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, found Kirill Gushchin not guilty of extremism. This decision withstood the courts of appeal and cassation, and the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office made an official apology. Since 2017, various courts have issued a total of 10 acquittals, but until that moment, only two of them were not overturned. In May 2021, the same Mayskiy District Court acquitted Yuriy Zalipayev.\nKabardino-Balkaria is the only region in Russia where Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have effectively been acquitted.\nKirill Gushchin leaves the courthouse after the announcement of his acquittal, he was greeted by a large support group International Support In the summer 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of 16 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who were subjected to illegal searches, arrests, and convictions for their religion in Russia. Although Russia withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights back in 2022, the Russian Federation is still obliged to pay compensation assigned to believers.\nOn October 24, 2023, the UN Human Rights Committee issued two opinions in favor of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses regarding the rulings to liquidate the local religious organizations (LROs) in Abinsk and Elista. In Russia, these rulings became precedent for the beginning of religious persecution, and a former member of the Abinsk LRO, the elderly Aleksandr Ivshin, is serving time for his faith in a penal colony.\nThe UN Human Rights Committee emphasizes that there are no calls for violence or other information inciting hatred in the literature of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. In both cases, Russia violated the right of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to \u0026quot;freedom of thought, conscience and religion\u0026quot; and \u0026quot;the right to freedom of assembly\u0026quot; (Articles 18.1 and 22.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights).\nThe Committee ordered Russia to reconsider the decisions on the ban and ordered it to \u0026quot;take all necessary steps to avoid similar violations in the future.\u0026quot; During 2024, hearings were held in Russia on this issue, but the Committee\u0026#39;s orders were never carried out. Moreover, after the publication of the Opinion of the Human Rights Committee on the liquidation of a religious organization in Abinsk, local security forces initiated a criminal case against Valeriy Baylo, 66 at that time, — for participating in the activity of the Abinsk LRO. The court sentenced the believer to two and a half years in a penal colony. Now he is in custody and is awaiting the decision of the court of appeal.\nAnd in June 2024, the Elista City Court found three women guilty of participating in the activity of the Elista LRO and gave Kishta Tutinova a three-year suspended sentence, and Yekaterina Menkova and Tsagan Khalgaeva two years suspended. The court of appeal toughened the sentence.\nNadezhda Korobochko Back in 2019, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Russian authorities to \u0026quot;drop the charges and release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, as well as the right to peaceful assembly and association.\u0026quot; It is obvious that the demands of the international community have not been met. However, this pressure — imprisonment, risk to health and sometimes even life — does not deprive Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses of their courage. Nadezhda Korobochko, 80, speaking in court before the verdict was announced, expressed the attitude of the majority of those prosecuted for their faith: \u0026quot;As long as I am alive, I will study the Bible. As long as I am alive, I will share the knowledge of God with other people, and nothing can make me give up my faith in God.\u0026quot;\n","category":"analytics","date":"2024-12-23T08:27:03+02:00","duration":"2:13","image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_f03b9c8adeb026a6.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_990bd52f1e0b72a9.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_2b62cd40b10aba1b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_588887d1ec686d5c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/12/230900.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["review","statistics","torture","search","siloviks-violence","torture-conditions","families","prison-treatment","shizo","strict-conditions","letters","acquittal","international","unhrc","echr","died","elderly","disability"],"title":"\"They imprison less, but more severely.\" Repressions against Jehovah's Witnesses: 2024 Overview","type":"video"},{"body":"On December 12, 2024, the Irkutsk Regional Court upheld the sentence against nine Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Earlier, the court of first instance had sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment in a penal colony. The believers maintain their innocence and have the right to appeal the verdict in cassation proceedings.\nAs noted by the defense, the meetings of worships in which the convicted Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses participated had nothing to do with the liquidated legal entities. Nevertheless, Sergey Vasiliyev was found guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization (Article 282.2(2) of the RF CrC), the rest were found guilty of organizing the activity of an extremist organization (Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC); six of them were also found guilty of financing it (Article 282.3(1) of the RF CrC). Aleksey Solnechny, commented during the closing arguments: \u0026quot;I am charged with allegedly collecting funds... However, there is no concrete proof that I collected and transferred funds specifically for the needs of extremist organizations and specifically for extremist purposes. The verdict does not mention such evidence.\u0026quot;\nMikhail Moysh has two minor children. The believer\u0026#39;s wife, Yelena, said: \u0026quot;Nikita [the eldest son — Ed.] misses his father; they only talk on the phone and during visits. The youngest son, David, was 6 months old when Misha was arrested. When I manage to take him on visits, he doesn\u0026#39;t recognize his daddy.\u0026quot; At the appeal hearing, Mikhail\u0026#39;s lawyer asked the judicial panel: \u0026quot;Why then did the court recognize M.F. Moysh having young children of as a mitigating circumstance? In order to impose an even harsher punishment than the prosecutor requested?\u0026quot; The court\u0026#39;s position regarding Andrey Tolmachev, who spent about 2.5 years in solitary confinement, has not changed either. He is the only son of elderly parents: his father has a disability, and due to health reasons his mother is unable to provide her husband with proper care.\nIn his final statement, Sergey Vasiliyev, who had fully served his sentence in a pretrial detention center and under house arrest before the appeal hearing, explained that his faith in God changed his life for the better: \u0026quot;I stopped swearing, quit smoking and began learning to love people. In total, it took me 9 years to overcome all the negative things within me with the help of Jehovah God. After that, for almost 20 years, the state had nothing on me. And suddenly, in 2021, there were searches and I was arrested. For what? Because I studied the Bible and tried, like Jesus Christ, to do good to people.\u0026quot;\nIt is noteworthy that neither the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Irkutsk nor the Irkutsk Regional Court questioned the expert Elbakyan, although in the first instance she was waiting in the courthouse to be questioned, having flown from Moscow to the hearing to testify. Yekaterina Sergeyevna is a well-known Russian religious scholar. At the appeal hearing, one of the lawyers noted: \u0026quot;This is the only specialist who has examined all the meetings for worship mentioned in the charges against our clients.\u0026quot; Another lawyer emphasized that the refusal to interrogate is a serious violation of the RF Criminal Procedural Code: \u0026quot;If this motion is not satisfied, then I believe that the appellate ruling will be unlawful.\u0026quot; In the end, the panel of judges rejected all motions filed by the defense.\nThe criminal case against the Irkutsk believers received wide publicity, since the mass searches were accompanied by torture and violence by law enforcement officers, for which they have not yet been held responsibile.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-12-12T09:36:31+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/12/120936/image_hu_9e9e8c7f750bc1bf.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/12/120936/image_hu_2c18f594d5837e91.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/12/120936/image_hu_a65f37f1ab956a02.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/12/120936/image_hu_4df5ffbbf6b6c808.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/12/120936.html","regions":["irkutsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","liberty-deprivation","282.2-1","282.2-2","282.3-1","siloviks-violence","torture","elderly"],"title":"Court of Appeal in Irkutsk Upheld Verdict Against Nine Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"A resident of the Astrakhan Region, Rinat Kiramov, sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony for his beliefs, was tortured in correctional medical facility No. 3 of the Tula Region, to force him to incriminate his fellow believers. Kiramov\u0026#39;s lawyer mentions this in his complaint to the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office. An inspection documented injuries on the body of the believer.\nIn April last year, Rinat Kiramov and two other believers were convicted because they discussed Bible topics with friends. Rinat Kiramov was sent to penal colony No. 6 of the Tula Region to serve his sentence. However, on April 18, 2024, Kiramov was transferred to correctional medical facility No. 3 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Tula Region on suspicion of tuberculosis.\nA few days later during a brief visit, Rinat\u0026#39;s wife, Galina Kiramova, immediately noticed bruises on her husband\u0026#39;s face. Eventually, the lawyer Denis Zubanov found out, that on April 20, several prisoners insisted that Rinat disclose the names of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses living in Akhtubinsk. After refusing to do so, the believer was beaten for several days, as well as tortured with waterboarding and with a stun gun. From April 20 to April 24, he was deprived of sleep, and was only allowed to eat once a day. The protocol of Kiramov\u0026#39;s interview states: \u0026quot;During the entire time spent in the medical correctional institution... he was not allowed to brush his teeth, shave, wash or even sit down.\u0026quot;\nThe lawyer appealed to the Tula Prosecutor for Supervision of Compliance with Laws in Correctional Institutions with a request for an urgent medical examination of Kiramov and verification of the legality of his transfer to the correctional medical facility.\nThe internal service of the correctional medical facility carried out an investigation into the reported torture. As a result, as stated in the relevant document, injuries were found on the body of Kiramov, which is \u0026quot;a sign of corpus delicti.\u0026quot;\nAccording to the response of the Prosecutor\u0026#39;s Office of the Tula Region, on May 3, 2024, the materials were transferred for further investigation to the Skuratovskiy police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Tula.\nThe believer was found not to have tuberculosis, so on May 17 he was sent from the correctional medical facility back to the Tula penal colony.\n","category":"crime","date":"2024-06-04T10:43:44+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/06/041043/image_hu_dc025094412d724a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/06/041043/image_hu_5e91f49c8a67abad.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/06/041043/image_hu_f168672662bc362f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/06/041043/image_hu_9be2091692b0369b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/06/041043.html","regions":["tula","astrakhan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["health-risk","torture","torture-conditions","forced-hospitalization","complaints","siloviks-violence"],"title":"A Convicted Jehovah's Witnesses from Akhtubinsk Was Tortured","type":"news"},{"body":"In 2023, the number of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses criminally prosecuted for their faith reached almost 800, and the number of searches exceeded 2,000. Cases are fabricated against the elderly, women and the disabled. More than a quarter of all prosecuted are persons over 60 years of age. By the end of the year, there were already six Jehovah’s Witness women in penal colonies. The tendency to prosecute entire families has increased. The length of imprisonment requested by prosecutors has reached 10 years. Statistics and details are included in this article. The Year in Numbers As of December 25, 2023, the total number of homes of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses searched is 2,058. In 2023, law enforcement officers raided 183 addresses, 43 people were detained, 15 of whom have been or are still in pretrial detention. During the year, Russian courts issued rulings regarding 147 Jehovah’s Witnesses, 47 of whom were sentenced to imprisonment for a cumulative term of more than 257 years (the previous year 44 people were sentenced to a cumulative term of 244 years in penal colonies). Thirty-three people received sentences in penal colonies of 6 years or more. Of these, the longest term of 8 years in a penal colony was given to Dmitriy Barmakin, whose story will be discussed below. On December 22, 2023, the court sentenced Aleksandr Rumyantsev from Moscow to 7.5 years in penal colony (Sean Pike, a citizen of Guyana, and Eduard Sviridov from Moscow, are in the same case and were sentenced to 7 and 6.5 years in a penal colony, respectively). Astrakhan residents Rinat Kiramov, Sergey Korolev and Sergey Kosyanenko, as well as Aleksandr Skvortsov from Taganrog and Evgeniy Bushev from Chelyabinsk received 7 years of imprisonment. In the Bushev case, it took the court just five sessions to conclude that talking about a Bible topic is such a serious crime. Later, it turned out that an officer of the National Guard had participated in the conversation, pretending to be interested in the Bible. On December 19, 2023, a court in Novosibirsk sentenced Marina Chaplykina to 4 years in a penal colony. She became the sixth woman from among Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses to receive a prison sentence for their faith.\nEight of Jehovah’s Witnesses were released from prison this past year. Seventy-nine people remain in penal colonies.\n\"The believers trials do not end with being released from the penal colony,\" explains Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. \"The believers continue to serve additional punishments. For example, during a period appointed by the court, they cannot leave their place of residence. An electronic tracking bracelet is put on the ankle of some for many months, by which the authorities track the location of the person. This device must not be removed. After serving their sentences many are forbidden from working in certain areas, such as education.\"\nThe total number of criminal cases initiated against believers since 2017 has reached 376. The defendants amount to 789 people; 444 believers were convicted, 141 of whom received imprisonment. In all cases, there are no victims, actual crimes or evidence of illegal actions. The cases are initiated for ordinary religious activities: praying, reading the Bible, singing religious songs, etc. Most of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are prosecuted for their faith are included in the list of extremists and terrorists maintained by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring). The state imposes a number of serious economic restrictions on those who are listed on it; for example, their bank accounts are blocked, which makes it difficult to receive salaries, pensions and complete other transactions. At the time of publication of this article, there are 521 believers on the list, 72 of whom were added to the list in 2023.\nTerms are Breaking Records In Magadan, the case of 13 believers, including Ivan Puyda, the son and grandson of Jehovah’s Witnesses who had been repressed under Soviet rule, reached its conclusion. Now he too could receive a lengthy sentence – 10 years. That is how much the prosecutor requested in the closing arguments on November 24, 2023.\nIf Puyda gets 10 years in prison, it will be a unprecedented record in the cases of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses. Currently, the maximum term in a penal colony is 8 years, and five believers are serving this: Aleksey Berchuk, Rustam Diarov, Yevgeniy Ivanov and Sergey Klikunov.\nOn December 4, 2023, in Irkutsk, the prosecutor requested terms ranging from 3 to 7 years for a group of nine Jehovah’s Witnesses, the longest for Yaroslav Kalin, Nikolay Martynov, Aleksey Solnechny and Sergey Kosteyev. Yaroslav Kalin also comes from a family of those repressed for their faith. Kalin’s lawyer said: \"My client is being tried for the same thing for which his parents were exiled to Siberia, more than 70 years ago.\" Ironically, Kalin’s parents have been officially exonerated, but their son is now being tried for the same \"crime\".\nNew Regions In 2023, the territory affected by prosecutions has expanded. In February, the first searches in the Leningrad Region took place in the cities of Kingisepp and Slantsy, five people were detained and a criminal case was initiated. On April 4, 2023, searches were carried out for the first time in St. Petersburg.\nAt the end of February, searches in at least three addresses took place in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. Kishta Tutinova, 62, was detained, and after 2 days behind bars she was placed under house arrest.\nIn total, Jehovah’s Witnesses are already being prosecuted in 74 regions of the Russian Federation.\nVladimir Piskarev, Vladimir Melnik and Artur Putintsev were kept in a cage during their trial in Oryol Aleksandr Skortsov and Valeriy Tibiy did not lose heart despite unjust prosecution Konstantin Sannikov in the so-called \u0026#34;aquarium\u0026#34; — an enclosure where usually especially dangerous criminals are held during the trial During the announcement of the verdict, the bailiff handcuffs the seriously ill Vladimir Balabkin Sergey Klimov with his wife immediately after his release from the penal colony Defendants in the case of Tchaikovsky and others in Moscow are taken into custody after the verdict is announced Aleksandr Nikolayev with his wife and daughters after his release from the penal colony Convicted residents of Gukovo communicate via video call from the pretrial detention center with the group of supporters that came to the cassation hearing On the day of Yuriy Savelyev’s release from the penal colony, he was met by a large group of supporters Rustam Seidkuliev’s wife and friends are taking pictures with him after his release from the penal colony in Saratov From left to right: Sergey Kosyanenko, Rinat Kiramov and Sergey Korolev behind bars in the courtroom Muscovites Anatoliy Marunov, Sergey Tolokonnikov and Roman Mareyev were sentenced to long terms for their faith In Surgut, friends came to the courthouse to support their convicted fellow believers, on the day of the verdict. Outdoor temperature was -29°C Marina married Sergey Shulyarenko, convicted for his faith, right in the penal colony Prosecution of the Elderly and Disabled Almost 26% of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been prosecuted for their faith since 2017 (205 people) are over 60 years old. Criminal cases were initiated against 17 believers in this category in 2023. The oldest of them is 85 years old (the youngest is 19 years old).\nLaw enforcement officers and judges are not troubled by the age, serious illnesses or disabilities of those they accuse. So, on September 13 of this year, a court in the Amur Region sentenced Vladimir Balabkin, 71, suffering from cancer, to 4 years in a penal colony (the prosecutor had requested 2.5 times longer). Immediately after the verdict, he was taken into custody. About three months later, on December 19, 2023, the court of appeal replaced the sentence with a a 1-year suspended sentence, and the believer was released.\nOn September 14, 2023, the Maykop City Court sent 68-year-old Nikolay Voishchev to a penal colony. Even before his arrest, he was diagnosed with a tumor that required immediate treatment. While in prison he is not receiving the adequate medical care he still needs.\nIn the Novosibirsk Region, Andrey Vlasov, a 54-year-old disabled person, continues to serve his sentence for his faith. He suffers from serious illnesses, including deforming arthrosis of both hip joints, which makes it impossible for him to take care of himself. But both the court of appeal and the court of cassation upheld the guilty verdict.\nRepression of Entire Families By the end of the year, more than 70 families in 35 regions of the Russian Federation had become easy prey for law enforcement officers, for whom this is often an easy way to improve their performance and move up the career ladder. In some cases, the husband and wife were sent to prison at the same time, for example, Yelena and Georgiy Nikulin from Saransk. Both received more than 4 years in a penal colony.\n\"Other family members who are not under investigation are also subjected to direct or indirect pressure. After the searches, the security forces interrogate them, threaten to imprison them or a relative if they do not begin to give the investigation the testimony requested against their relative and fellow believers. Simply put, they are invited to become secret agents, to conduct covert audio and video recordings of how believers discuss Bible teachings, pray and sing religious songs together, in order to later call it \"the activity of a banned religious organization,\" says Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \"Another form of indirect pressure on relatives is denying visits to imprisoned family members.\"\nReversal of Acquittals One of the significant trends of 2023 was canceling the acquittals of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This happened on July 6, 2023, with the case of Aleksandr Pryanikov and Venera and Darya Dulova; the case reached the Supreme Court, which overturned the acquittal, although before that the Sverdlovsk Regional Court had twice overturned the guilty verdicts.\nIn the case of Ivan Sorokin and Andrey Zhukov in Yugorsk, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, the acquittal was overturned on November 20, 2023.\nDmitriy Barmakin from Vladivostok became the first Russian Jehovah’s Witness to be acquitted in a criminal case for his faith on November 22, 2021. This decision lasted only until April 27, 2023, when the same court, the Pervorechensky District Court of Vladivostok, sentenced the believer to 8 years in a penal colony. However, later, on August 8, 2023, the Primorsky Regional Court overturned this decision and sent the case for review.\nAleksey Khabarov from Porkhov, Pskov Region, who was initially acquitted, was sentenced at the third trial on October 25, 2023, to 2 years and 6 months in a penal colony. The court of appeal reduced the term by only 2 months.\nThe Supreme Court Does Not Comply With Its Own Judgement It seems paradoxical that acquittals of Jehovah’s Witnesses are consistently overturned by the Supreme Court, whose position is that meeting for worship in itself cannot be considered a crime (in the cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses, this is the only corpus delicti). On October 28, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court published a ruling stating: \"If a court adopts a decision, which enters into force, to liquidate or ban the activity of a public or religious association or other organization regarding extremist activity, subsequent actions of persons that are not related to the continuation or resumption of the activity of the relevant extremist organization and consist solely in exercising their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint practice of religion, meetings for worship or other religious rites and ceremonies, in themselves, if they do not contain signs of extremism, do not constitute a crime\" (emphasis added).\nHowever, in practice, some judges of the Supreme Court do not consider it necessary to follow this position. They simply repeat the prosecution’s narrative that any collective practice of worship by Jehovah’s Witnesses is \"extremist.\"\nIn total, the Supreme Court has already overturned two acquittals of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In addition to the above-mentioned case of Pryanikov and the Dulovs, a similar decision was made on December 15, 2022 in the case of the Bazhenovs and Vera Zolotova.\nJudgments of the European Court of Human Rights On January 31, 2023, the European Court of Human Rights considered seven applications by Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia relating to events from 2010 to 2014. In all of them, the court sided with the applicants and ordered Russia to pay compensation in the amount of 345,773 euros and another 5,000 euros as legal costs.\nThis is the second judgement of the ECHR in the case of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses in the last 2 years. In the summer of 2022, the ECHR also exonerated believers in a larger lawsuit related to the illegal liquidation of all legal entities of the Witnesses and the seizure of their property. The total amount of compensation under this decision exceeds 63 million euros.\nAlas, so far the decisions of the ECHR have no visible impact on the practice of the Russian law enforcement system. The Russian authorities are in no hurry to pay compensation to exonerated believers, and continue to sentence them to long prison terms.\nExactly on the day of the decision of the ECHR, June 7, 2022, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted laws under an accelerated procedure, according to which ECHR judgments issued after March 15, 2022 are not enforceable in Russia.\n\u0026quot;The Case of the Eighteen\u0026quot; in Surgut: Faith is a Crime, Torture is Heroism In 2023, a high-profile case in Surgut approached its conclusion, which received wide publicity because the believers were tortured. The case against 18 men and one woman from Surgut, including a man whom the investigation mistakenly mistook for one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, has been dragging on since February 2019. Seven defendants went through severe torture during interrogation, and one of them, Timofey Zhukov, was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital and later obtained compensation for this. The torture in Surgut was widely covered in the Russian media; the believers met with the Human Rights Ombudsman for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region and employees of the offices of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation and conferences were held with the participation of human rights defenders.\nIn November 2023, the prosecutor requested harsh terms for the believers \u0026ndash; up to 9.5 years in a penal colony (for Sergey Loginov). On December 5, 2023, all the defendants in the Surgut case were given suspended sentences ranging from 4 to 7 years. Sergey Loginov and Timofey Zhukov were given the longest sentences of 7 years.\nAt the same time, not a single criminal case has been initiated for the torture of the believers. Moreover, later the head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee, where Jehovah’s Witnesses were tortured, Vladimir Yermolaev and his subordinate Sergey Bogoderov received awards, and the soldiers of the National Guard of Russia who participated in the operation were rewarded.\n\"Have They Succeeded in Intimidating Jehovah’s Witnesses?\" Sergei Ivanenko, Ph.D. in Philosophy, a religious scholar who attended as an expert at 14 judicial trials against Jehovah’s Witnesses in different regions of Russia, writes his impressions in his book \"The People Who Are Steadfast in Persecution\" published in 2023: \"Jehovah’s Witnesses... consider it their religious responsibility to preach Christianity to law enforcement officials, judges, and also to prisoners... Have they succeeded in intimidating Jehovah’s Witnesses? No, they have not. They continue to preach, to help each other, and to support prisoners of conscience. According to the believers, persecution strengthens their faith in Jehovah, and strong faith brings inner peace... Those who know the history of Jehovah's Witnesses understand that they have endured the most severe persecution and have not forsaken their faith. Nor does persecution in today's Russia frighten them.\"\n","category":"analytics","date":"2023-12-27T13:08:20+02:00","duration":"1:56","image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_8ce5188d4fbb9f2c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_7d61162a90e88d55.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_c30bde6a69fa6960.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_7cb627d2f70ce16.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/12/271308.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","elderly","disability","video","rosfinmonitoring","medical-rights","siloviks-violence","torture","international","supreme-court","echr","international-community","expert-conclusions","fabrications","statistics","analytics","review"],"title":"Jehovah’s Witnesses Under the Yoke of Repression — 2023 Overview","type":"video"},{"body":"On December 5, 2023, the high-profile trial against Jehovah's Witnesses from Surgut concluded. Dmitriy Lupin, a judge of the Surgut City Court, found 18 believers guilty of extremism and gave all suspended sentences ranging from 4 to 7 years.\nSergey Loginov and Timofey Zhukov received the longest suspended sentence — 7 years. Yevgeniy Kayryak received 6 years and 10 months; Leonid Rysikov — 6 years and 9 months; Pavel Romashov — 6 years and 7 months; Vyacheslav Boronos, Saveliy Gargalyk, Artem Kim, Igor Trifonov, Yevgeniy Fedin — 6 years and 6 months; Igor Petrov — 6 years and 5 months; Vasiliy Burenesku, Sergey Volosnikov, Igor Kobotov and Viktor Fefilov — 6 years and 4 months; Aleksey Plekhov and Artur Severinchik — 6 years and 3 months.\nThe only woman in the case, Viola Shepel, received a 3-year and 3-month suspended sentence.\nAll defendants were given probation periods from 2 to 4 years.\nThe Surgut trial became one of the most widely discussed after the decision of the Supreme Court to liquidate the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses: the believers faced unprecedented cruel treatment by the security forces. A criminal case against 17 men and 1 woman between 31 and 71 years was initiated by the Investigative Department for the city of Surgut of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. In February 2019, after a series of searches in the homes of believers, at least 40 people were detained for interrogation, 7 of them were tortured. The security officials applied beatings, electric shocks and suffocation until they lost consciousness.\nThe victims appealed to the Investigative Committee of Russia, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the ECHR with calls to bring law enforcement officers to justice for criminal actions. Human rights defenderd actively spoke out. Despite this, no criminal case for torture was ever initiated, and two months after the incident, Vladimir Yermolayev, head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee, where Jehovah's Witnesses were tortured, and his subordinate Sergey Bogoderov received awards, and the soldiers of the National Guard of Russia who participated in the operation received commendation.\nBelievers from Surgut who peacefully practiced their religion were accused of organizing, participating in and financing the activity of an extremist organization. A man mistaken for one of Jehovah's Witnesses was also prosecuted. During the investigation, the homes of several defendants were searched again; three men spent from 1 to 2 months in a pretrial detention center, and Timofey Zhukov underwent a compulsory psychiatric examination, which the court later declared illegal.\nFriends who came to support believers in minus 30-degree frost The case materials received by the court amounted to 222 volumes. However, as the defense emphasized, they do not list specific unlawful actions, and the gathered evidence only shows that the defendants continued to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses after the liquidation of legal entities, which is not against the law. The court considered the believers' case for 2 years. For the last months, meetings were held behind closed doors every working day. It is known that one of the witnesses for the prosecution was an undercover agent for the special forces, who feigned interest in the Bible and secretly recorded conversations with the believers.\nOne of the convicted persons, Timofey Zhukov, a lawyer with many years of experience, called what was happening \"legal absurdity and physical lawlessness.\" He added: \"At first, to be honest, I didn't believe that in a secular state governed by the rule of law, in which the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, there could be repression for faith, and moreover, that believers would actually be imprisoned... From a legal point of view, the ban on legal entities should in no way affect regular believers.\"\nMost believers faced financial difficulties due to criminal prosecution – many lost their jobs and some had their accounts blocked; despite seven of the convicted persons having minor children. Aleksey Plekhov, who was unemployed for about a year, recalls: \"The judge scheduled court hearings 2-3 times a week. For many of us, such a schedule meant possibly losing our job.\" Leonid Rysikov, a 73-year-old pensioner who ended up on the Rosfinmonitoring list, said: \"Every month I had to apply and wait for how much funds they would allow me to withdraw. Usually, it's 10 000, but once they allowed me to withdraw only 670 rubles.\"\nYevgeniy Fedin, who spent almost 2 months in a pretrial detention center, faced another difficulty: \"When the investigation was going on, my father was very ill and I needed to be near him. I wrote a motion detailing the reason for the trip, but the investigator did not allow me go. A few days later, my father died. About six months later, my sister died, and the investigator again did not let me go to her funeral. My mom had to bury her daughter alone. For her it was the greatest stress.\"\nAll the while, the Surgutians felt the support of their fellow believers from different cities and countries. Igor Kobotov said: \"After suffering stress [due to the raid], my wife did not want to return home and we stayed overnight with friends. Literally the next day, brothers and sisters started coming to us, to support and strengthen us. They brought money and food, assured us of their love and support.\" Yevgeniy Fedin related: \"In the pretrial detention center, I received about 800 letters in 2 months. It was a great encouragement and support.\"\nShortly before Judge Lupin began his consideration of the case of Jehovah's Witnesses from Surgut, the association of former prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp (Lagergemeinschaft Dachau) sent an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. \"Not a day passes on which there is no report of state repression against Jehovah’s Witnesses,\" the letter says. \"The homes of members of the religious denomination are searched and ravaged by the Russian secret service, FSB, and the police. Violent assaults and mistreatment occur. Women and men are condemned to long-term prison sentences. Requests to ease detention conditions or for parole are regularly refused.\" The letter concludes: “We urge you to grant every resident of the Russian Federation the constitutional right to free exercise of religion. Please end this injustice!”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-12-05T14:13:16+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/12/051413/image_hu_f403bb5262627e07.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/12/051413/image_hu_c98f1de4b1a135a9.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/12/051413/image_hu_c25377ee6e3a28fd.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/12/051413/image_hu_c22c42f966e9d3a0.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/12/051413.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","torture","siloviks-violence","families","elderly","282.2-1","282.2-2"],"title":"Court in Surgut Ruled in a High-Profile Case of 18 Jehovah's Witnesses, Some of Whom Had Been Tortured Earlier","type":"news"},{"body":"The court is interrogating Nikolay Saparov. He says that after his detention at the Mineralnye Vody airport, he was subjected to violence, including the use of a stun gun, who was forced to take the blame for extremism. According to the believer, he was pushed into a car and taken about 300 km to the law enforcement department in Adygea. Along the way, he was beaten and intimidated.\nAfter the interrogations, first in the building of the local department of the Federal Security Service, and later in the building of the branch of the Investigative Committee, Nikolai Saparov was taken to his home for a search, which, according to the defendant and his lawyer, took place with violations, including without witnesses. As a result, investigators \"found\" documents and items in Saparov's house that did not belong to him.\nThe lawyer filed a motion to exclude the search protocol from the case file, arguing that the search at Saparov's place of residence was carried out by the investigating authorities with numerous violations of the criminal procedure legislation. The defender draws the court's attention to the fact that investigator Shnakhov allowed the uncontrolled movement of operational officers around the house, which is a significant violation. This does not exclude the planting of documents and objects that were \"discovered\" in Saparov's house. The judge rejects the motion of the defense to exclude the search protocol from the case file.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Saparov in Maykop","date":"2023-11-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/maykop2/index.html#20231128","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","fabrications","plant","siloviks-violence","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 15, 2021, in Samara, security forces searched 10 homes of local residents believed to be Jehovah's Witnesses and interrogated 16 people. Denis Kuzyanin, Sergey Palasenko and Nikolay Vasilyev were detained, and on December 16, the Samara District Court arrested them for 2 months.\nIn some cases, having burst into a dwelling, law enforcement officers behaved rudely and used violence. A 23-year-old believer said that in response to his refusal to provide the password for his laptop, the security forces began putting a heated kettle on his hands and pouring hot water on his arms, legs and neck until witnesses came. The man was forced to lie on the floor for several hours. In addition, he was forced to sign the protocol, using brute physical force against him. The believer was threatened with long prison terms, physical violence and further torture. The search lasted about 7 hours, then he was taken to the FSB department for questioning. The believer was treated with respect there.\nUpdate. At 6:20 am, the security forces broke down the door of the apartment where IT specialist Nikolay Vasiliyev and two of his fellow believers live. According to the believer, there were at least 8 people who broke into the house together with the FSB investigator. One of the security officers - in uniform and mask - took out a pistol and, pointing it at the residents, ordered them to lie down on the floor. When the believer complied with the order, the law enforcement officer hit him hard on the inside of the thigh with a boot, so that he left a hematoma on Nikolay\u0026rsquo;s body. He was handcuffed, forced to his knees and, by turning on the video, ordered to read aloud the search warrant. Then the believer received several blows to the head. During the beating, he fell and hit his forehead on the edge of the table, after which he was photographed. In another case, the search took place early in the morning. At 6:20 riot policemen came to the communal apartment where the spouses — Jehovah's Witnesses live. FSB captain Sergey Smolin conducted a search as part of a criminal case against Palasenko, Kuzyanin and Vasilyev, which was initiated the day before. The spouses were ordered to put their phones on a table in the center of the room, recorded all incoming calls and were asked to answer them. The investigator showed the spouses screenshots taken during the video conferences, and also convinced them that law enforcement officers read the correspondence of believers in the Viber messenger in real time. The search of the house and car of the couple lasted 7 hours, after which they were taken to the FSB department, where they were interrogated separately from each other.\nOne of the searches took place in a family with a small child who was treated to candy by police officers.\nThe Samara Region has become the 70th region of Russia where criminal cases have been initiated against Jehovah's Witnesses (according to the Constitution, there are 85 subjects in Russia in total).\nDespite the explanations of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, law enforcement officers continue to prosecute civilians for practicing their religion, ignoring the fact that the divine services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint rituals and ceremonies do not constitute a crime in themselves.\n","category":"crime","date":"2021-12-21T15:02:25+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_a40cecf496601106.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_59b3c42f7ba1668c.jpg","webp":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_3fcbebbe31916c7c.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_ec97b38ee75f388c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/12/211502.html","regions":["samara"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","siloviks-violence","sizo","interrogation","torture"],"title":"A Raid on Jehovah's Witnesses Took Place in Samara. Three Were Sent to a Pre-Trial Detention Center, One Reported Torture During a Search","type":"news"},{"body":"Mass searches of believers are taking place in Samara. A 23-year-old man reports threats and torture with a heated kettle for refusing to provide security forces with a laptop password.\nPolosenko, Kuzyanin and Vasilyev are detained and placed in a temporary detention facility.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polosenko and Others in Samara","date":"2021-12-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/samara/index.html#20211215","regions":["samara"],"tags":["search","torture","ivs"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the preliminary hearing, several defendants and their defenders fall ill, two of them confirmed to have covid. However, the sick agree that the hearings begin in their absence. Defendants and defence counsel shall provide the court with information on violations committed during the investigation: beating out testimony under torture with the requirement to include untrue information in the record; unlawful involuntary placement of the accused in a psychiatric hospital; introduction of lawyers into the case in violation of the requirements of lawyer ethics; the use of incompetent and biased experts; violations of the right of the accused to a defence; falsification of evidence in the selection of preventive measures. The defense asks that the evidence be declared inadmissible and that the case be returned to the prosecutor.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2021-11-12T11:43:09+02:00","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20211112","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["first-instance","torture","forced-hospitalization","fabrications"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the mass searches in Irkutsk, which took place in the homes of believers on October 4, 2021, armed soldiers of the \"Grom\" special forces and the Russian Guard beat and tortured 31-year-old Anatoliy Razdobarov and 23-year-old Nikolai Merinov, as well as their wives.\nGreta and Anatoliy Razdobarovs came to the village of Novolisikha in the Irkutsk region to visit their parents. Early in the morning the security forces broke into the house, knocked Anatoliy to the floor, handcuffed him, kicked him in the head and kidneys. After that, they began to lift the believer from the floor by the hands chained behind his back, causing severe pain. Then law enforcement officers simulated rape, trying to stick a glass bottle between his buttocks. Anatoliy was not allowed to get up for a long time, until he finally began to feel sick. Only after that the torture stopped and he was allowed to stand up. The security forces demanded that the believer unlock his smartphone, confess to crimes that he did not commit, and incriminate fellow believers.\nAccording to Anatoliy himself, his wife, Greta, was dragged by the security forces into the next room by the hair, handcuffed behind his back, and repeatedly pushed. Only 30 minutes later, Greta was allowed to get dressed. The believer was frightened by the fact that \"in the female colony it is worse than in the male colony.\"\nThe search at the Razdobarovs' house lasted more than 8 hours. All this time, Greta's sister with her husband and two young children were in the house. A large amount of money received from the sale of the land plot was seized from Greta's parents. Then the Razdobarovs were released. The next day, they underwent a medical examination, during which doctors recorded multiple bruises and abrasions.\nAt about the same time, the security forces invaded the home of the Merinovs. They hit the head of the family, Nikolay, in the face with a heavy blunt object, breaking his tooth. The believer fell to the floor and lost consciousness. When Nikolay came to his senses, a special forces soldier was sitting on him and inflicted many blows.\nNikolay's wife, 27-year-old Liliya Merinova, was thrown to the floor by the security forces, dragged by her feet into another room and subjected to physical violence. After the search, the security forces took Nikolay away for interrogation, he was released late in the evening, after which the spouses underwent a medical examination and recorded injuries.\nDuring searches of other believers, the security forces also displayed unmotivated aggression. In a number of cases, at the beginning of the assault, the special forces knocked out the windows, although the doors in the houses were not locked. Residents were not allowed to dress despite the fact that frosty air entered the house — the temperature outside that morning reached -1 ° Celsius. According to the believers, one of the special forces soldiers explained the harsh actions by the fact that they received an order: the assault must be accompanied by an assault. “According to the investigator, the order to carry out the raid came so rudely directly from Moscow,” said one of the local residents, who was also searched. “Later, the special forces officers realized that we were peaceful. They calmed down and even showed sympathy. Some time after the start of the search, they were already playing games on their phones, someone even dozing. \"\n“Unjustified cruelty towards peaceful, non-resisting believers is a sad continuation of the brutal repressions of the Soviet era,”— says Yaroslav Sivulsky from the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses. “In 2019, a roundup of believers in Surgut turned into fastidious torture, in 2020 believers in Chita reported beatings and torture, after that a massive raid in Voronezh again led to beatings and torture. \"\nUnder Russian law, such flagrant abuse of power is a criminal offense. In addition, the Russian Federation is subject to several international bodies that protect people from torture. The Razdobarovs and Merinovs will use all available legal remedies, both domestic and international, in connection with these crimes. The believers filed a complaint against the actions of law enforcement officials with the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor's Office, and also informed the Ombudsman for Human Rights in the Russian Federation.\n","category":"crime","date":"2021-10-11T15:07:22+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/10/061135/image_hu_90cd0e6c65de2e9b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/10/061135/image_hu_a1954110653499d6.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/10/061135/image_hu_c13dc1e60f769490.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/10/061135/image_hu_8149eeae62adf39c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/10/061135.html","regions":["irkutsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["siloviks-violence","torture","minors"],"title":"Believers From Irkutsk Talk About Torture During a Raid on Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"Investigators of the 2nd Investigation Department of the 3rd Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Irkutsk Region are initiating criminal cases under Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code against Yaroslav Kalin, Sergey Kosteev, Nikolai Martynov, Mikhail Moish, Alexei Solnechny, Andrey Tolmachev, and Sergey Vasilyev.\nOn the same day, early in the morning in Irkutsk and the village of Pivovarikha, armed detachments of Rosgvardia officers and soldiers of the Thunder special forces surrounded the houses of Jehovah's Witnesses at 13 addresses.\nThe security forces are cruel towards believers - Anatoly Razdobarov, Nikolay Merinov, as well as their spouses are subjected to beatings and torture. The search lasts more than 8 hours. Then the believers are taken for interrogation, where it turns out that Anatoly Razdobarov and Nikolay Merinov are involved as witnesses in the case of other believers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Martynov and Others in Irkutsk","date":"2021-10-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/irkutsk/index.html#20211004","regions":["irkutsk"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-1","282.2-2","search","siloviks-violence","torture","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Believers Yuriy Galka and Anatoliy Yagupov reported about the inhumane treatment through a lawyer, who visited them in the detention center. On the day of their detention they were strangled with bags and beaten, demanding a confession. Earlier, believers Bokov, Katyrov and Korol described the beatings.\nLawyers tried to get to Yagupov and Galka from the moment they were taken to pre-trial detention center #1 in Voronezh region, but the lawyer was allowed to see them only after 2 weeks, July 29 and 30.\nIt became known that 44-year-old Yuri Galka had a broken rib. The torture began during the search and continued during the interrogation. The FSB officers twisted his hands behind his back and put the bag over his head, tightening until Yuri began to suffocate. At this time, he was beaten, breaking a rib. He was required to confess to extremism and links with Jehovah's Witnesses. Upon admission to the pre-trial detention center, a rib fracture was revealed, but the staff of the institution, taking advantage of Yuriy's state of shock, wrote in the documents that he received injuries by household.\n51-year-old Anatoliy Yagupov was tortured in a similar way: he was put a bag over his head and beaten on a chair, on which the interrogators put a Voronezh resident.\nA total of five Voronezh Jehovah's Witnesses are now complaining about torture by law enforcement officials. Despite the torture, the Voronezh believers refused to admit guilt for crimes they had not committed. They recorded injuries in a medical facility to protest the actions of law enforcement officers.\nOn July 13, 2020 more than 110 searches of Jehovah's Witnesses houses were conducted in Voronezh and the region.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-08-06T13:41:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/08/2/image_hu_d743890388eb1282.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/08/2/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/08/2/image_hu_6e320afd3ad9608f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/08/2/image_hu_88b90d2dfd06aa3.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/08/2.html","regions":["voronezh"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","sizo","health-risk","siloviks-violence","search","interrogation"],"title":"Two additional Voronezh-based believers reported being tortured during detention. Both are imprisoned and one has a broken rib","type":"news"},{"body":"Aleksandr Korol, 29, who was detained during a mass raid on Jehovah's Witnesses on July 13, was tortured during interrogation, demanding to identify his fellow believers: he was strangled with a plastic bag and beaten. This was revealed after his release from the temporary detention facility where he was held for 48 hours.\nThe most massive raid against Jehovah's Witnesses in the history of modern Russia was conducted by law enforcement agencies in the Voronezh region on July 13, 2020. Searches were conducted at more than 100 addresses, dozens of civilians were detained and taken to interrogations. 10 people were arrested and thrown into the pre-trial detention center. According to more detailed information, three men were beaten and tortured. One of them is 29-year-old Aleksandr Korol.\nAfter the search in Aleksandr's house, he was taken to the building of the Main Department of the Russian Interior Ministry in Voronezh region on Sredne-Moskovskaya Street. There he was interrogated several times. For the first time the interrogators tried to convince the believer to incriminate himself and threatened to torture him. Aleksandr refused, so one of the officers put a plastic bag over his head and began to tighten it around his neck, blocking the air access and asking who among the believers is the elder. The torture was repeated several times until the bag was torn. Simultaneously, Aleksandr was punched in the face several times. The silovik also threatened to use needles for torture.\nThe interrogation with the use of force lasted about 15 minutes, after which Aleksandr was taken to another address, where he was interrogated again.\nAt about 5:30 p.m., handcuffed, he was taken to the Interior Ministry department in Khokholsky district, located about 40 km from Voronezh, and placed in a temporary detention facility for 48 hours.\nAt 5:00 p.m. on 15 July Aleksandr was released without any explanation or apology. Since Aleksandr had no money, and the police seized the means of communication, he had to ask passers-by to borrow money to get home to Voronezh. At the moment it is unknown whether a criminal case has been initiated against the believer. Aleksandr Korol is preparing to appeal against the illegal actions of law enforcers.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-07-29T15:13:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/handcuffs5_hu_5c6cf220765f797a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/handcuffs5_hu_f83fda8b6d29ba90.jpg","webp":"/news/common/handcuffs5_hu_c9c4066c83d218c.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/handcuffs5_hu_285c2a837883ce7b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/07/21.html","regions":["voronezh"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","torture","siloviks-violence","health-risk","ivs","interrogation"],"title":"\"They placed a bag over my head, strangled and beat me.\" A Voronezh believer tells about being tortured after being detained","type":"news"},{"body":"During a visit to the detainees in pre-trial detention center No. 1, the lawyers learn that two more believers — Yuriy Galka and Anatoly Yagupov — were tortured and beaten. During interrogations, they put a bag over their heads, demanding self-incrimination. At the same time, Yuriy Galka was beaten by the security forces in such a way that he broke a rib.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sokolov and Others in Voronezh","date":"2020-07-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/voronezh/index.html#20200729","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"More than 110 searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses on July 13, 2020. The homes are located across seven residential communities in the City of Voronezh region. At least two believers reported severe beatings for refusing to provide smartphone passwords. Ten men between the ages of 24 to 56 were sent to the pre-trial detention center. This news is being continuously updated.\nWhat is known about the arrests and detentions of believers. On July 14 and 15, 2020, the Leninskiy District Court of Voronezh sent ten believers into custody for 1 month and 22 days (until September 3): Antyukhin Aleksey (44), Bayev Sergey (47), Veselov Mikhail (51), Galka Yuriy (44), Gurskiy Valeriy (56), Nerush Vitaly (41), Pankratov Stepan (24), Popov Igor (54), Sokolov Yevgeniy (44) and Yagupov Anatoliy (51).\nOn the day of the search these believers were taken to the building of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on Ordzhonikidze Street in Voronezh. They sat in a prisoner transport bus, and were taken one by one to the building, handcuffed to the escort. It became known that overnight they were sent to an isolation ward in the village of Nizhnedevitsk.\nWhat is known about the beating of believers. Believers Aliaksandr Bokov and Dmitriy Katyrov were severely beaten and abused, as they refused to provide passwords from their mobile devices. During the search, 30-year-old Aleksandr Bokov was beaten at face, head and ribs by the guards, then he was forced to do push-ups on the floor and squat until he was exhausted. At that moment Aleksandr's friend, 23-year-old Dmitriy Katyrov, rang the doorbell. Law enforcers brought Dmitriy into the apartment, demanded the password from his device, and after the refusal they threw him on the floor and started beating his back and neck with their legs, breaking out hands and fingers to unlock the phone with his fingerprint. Because of what was happening, Aleksandr Bokov's wife got sick and needed the help of an ambulance team. The police threatened the believers with further beatings if they reported the beatings to the doctors. Later, after the interrogation, both believers were released. They documented the injuries at the medical facility to protest the law enforcement officers.\nIt is also known that during the storming of Yuriy Galka's apartment, after his front door was broken into, the law enforcement officers knocked him down and pressed him face to the floor. The damage he suffered is unknown, as he was sent to the pre-trial detention center.\nWhat is known about the geography of searches and their number. The official press release the Investigation Committee reports 110 searches. of the Investigation Committee reports 110 searches. The raids were confirmed in the city of Voronezh, towns of Borisoglebsk, Lisky, Pavlovsk, Ramon, Semiluki, the villages of Nikolsky and Babyakovo. The search was also carried out in the city of Stary Oskol (Belgorod region) at a believer who moved there from Voronezh. A total of approximately 100 addresses searched were confirmed by local Jehovah's Witnesses, including apartment and workplaces, garages, and the like.\nWhat is known about the manner in which the law enforcers conducted the searches. According to eyewitnesses, Rosgvardiya employees did not wear the means of epidemiological protection. However, they were armed with assault rifles. During the searches, the Bible, personal diaries, postcards, photographs, computers and telephones were seized from believers. Book volumes with verses by Joseph Brodsky and Bulat Okudzhava were also confiscated from one family. The search orders were issued by the Leninskiy District Court of Voronezh.\nWhat is known about the way the interrogations were conducted. The majority of believers, at least 40, including women, were taken for interrogations to the Center for Counteracting Extremism, to Sredne-Moskovskaya Street in Voronezh. There, they were kept in a big hall under the supervision of armed gunmen and interrogated one by one. During the interrogations some of investigators exerted pressure and used foul language. At least one believer was beaten in the back of the head with his palm.\nWhat do we know about a criminal case. On July 3, 2020, the 1st Department of Investigation of Special Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in Voronezh Region initiated 2 criminal cases under paragraph 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code against the above mentioned believers (Antyukhin, Bayev, Veselov, Galka, Gursky, Nerush, Pankratov, Popov, Sokolov, Jagupov). Ten days later, 2 cases were merged into one proceeding. The case is being investigated by investigator for especially important cases I. Bichev, with the active participation of the head of the department Andrey Shevelev. The investigation of the case is under control of the head of the regional investigation department.\nThe previous sad record for the number of searches was set by the law enforcement agencies of the Transbaikalia: on 10 February, they conducted searches in 50 houses of believers. Other anti-records were recorded in Sochi (36 searches) and Nizhny Novgorod (35 searches). Law enforcement officers from other regions participated in each of the raids. Following the Supreme Court decision against Jehovah's Witnesses, more than 1,000 believers' homes were searched as of mid-July 2020.\nVoronezh Region became the 57th region of Russia (85 in total in Russia), where criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses were initiated.\nThe ban and liquidation of Jehovah's Witnesses legal entities in 2017 have long since escalated into real persecution of ordinary believers, most of whom have never been members of the liquidated legal entities. This legal \"collision,\" as the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation put it, is crippling the lives of hundreds of people. Recently the number of criminal cases has increased significantly, with dozens of men and women behind bars. The believers await the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), where they have filed a complaint.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-07-16T09:40:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/invasion-surgut_hu_d47978800fa5e21b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/invasion-surgut.jpg","webp":"/news/common/invasion-surgut_hu_e7e36e7e158e908a.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/invasion-surgut_hu_28a0fe43c2e78d82.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/07/17.html","regions":["voronezh"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","siloviks-violence","sizo","interrogation","review","statistics","analytics","torture"],"title":"Two believers beaten and ten sent to prison in the largest raid on Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Voronezh","type":"news"},{"body":"The largest special operation is being carried out against Jehovah's Witnesses: searches are being carried out at more than 100 addresses, including apartments of believers, workplaces, garages, etc. Raids in the cities of Voronezh, Borisoglebsk, Liski, Novovoronezh, Pavlovsk, Ramon, Semiluki, the villages of Nikolskoye and Babyakovo. Investigators of the Investigative Committee together with employees of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Voronezh Region, with the power support of employees of the National Guard, participate in the operation.\nSome believers have reported beatings. Aleksandr Bokov and Dmitriy Katyrov are severely beaten and abused because they refuse to provide passwords for their mobile devices. Law enforcement officers inflict several blows to the face, head and ribs, after which they force him to do push-ups from the floor and squat until he is exhausted. Law enforcement officers bring Katyrov to Bokov's apartment, demand the password from his device, and after refusal, they knock him to the floor and kick him on the back and neck, break out his hands and fingers to unlock the phone with his fingerprint. Because of what is happening, Bokov's wife needs the help of an ambulance crew. (After interrogation, both believers were released, they record their injuries in order to protest the actions of law enforcement officers.)\n29-year-old Alexander Korol is taken away for interrogation. After refusing to incriminate himself and extradite his fellow believers, one of the interrogators tortures him: they put a plastic bag over Aleksandr's head and tighten it around his neck, blocking the access of air. The torture is repeated repeatedly. At the same time, Alexander is beaten in the face several times and threatened with using needles for torture.\nDuring the storming of Yuriy Galka's apartment, after breaking into his front door, law enforcement officers knocked him down and pressed him face to the floor.\nThe apartment where Aleksey Shtylenko lives with his wife and sick mother is burst into the armed security forces - an investigator accompanied by 2 operatives and 2 riot policemen. Spouses are ordered to lie face down on the floor. The believer is dragged down the corridor and kicked. Law enforcement officers demand to name passwords from phones. Their passports are taken away from them, they are not allowed to get up, get dressed, visit the toilet for some time. After 4 hours, Aleksey is taken out into the yard to search his car, without having the appropriate order and in the absence of witnesses.\nThe majority of believers, at least 40, including women, are taken for interrogations to the Center for Countering Extremism, to Sredne-Moskovskaya Street in Voronezh. There they are kept in the assembly hall under the supervision of armed machine gunners and interrogated one by one. During interrogations, some are pressured and used foul language. At least one believer is beaten in the back of the head with his palm.\nBelievers Antyukhin, Baev, Veselov, Galka, Gursky, Nerush, Pankratov, Popov, Sokolov and Yagupov are taken to the building of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on Ordzhonikidze Street in Voronezh. They sit in a paddy wagon, and they are taken one by one to the building, handcuffed to the escort. At night, they are sent to an isolation ward in the village of Nizhnedevitsk.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sokolov and Others in Voronezh","date":"2020-07-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/voronezh/index.html#20200713","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["search","siloviks-violence","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the hearing in the Chita Garrison Military Court, Kutsenko learns that the head of the investigative body canceled the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case on the torture allegation. The cancellation of the ruling means that the pre-investigation check on the allegations of torture continues.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-06-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200626","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the hearing in the Chita Garrison Military Court, Kutsenko learns that the Investigative Committee overturned the decision not to initiate a case. This means that the pre-investigation check on his claim of torture continues.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kutsenko in Chita","date":"2020-06-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita2/index.html#20200626","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["complaints","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"It becomes known that the investigation considers Vadim Maltsev not as a suspect, but as a witness in a criminal case for faith in Chita. Thus, the total number of believers known to be declared suspects and accused in a criminal case is 7 people. Kutsenko sends a complaint to the Chita Garrison Military Court: \"The inspection is incomplete and one-sided, which is why the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case was made prematurely and is illegal and unreasonable. Investigator, contrary to the requirements of Part 2. Article 21 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, actions aimed at properly verifying the arguments of the application and capable of refuting or confirming the information contained therein, including those specified in the text of the application, have not been carried out. Kutsenko draws attention to the contradictions in the testimonies of the officers who tortured him, and the selective approach to the evaluation of evidence. Asks to recognize the refusal to initiate a criminal case as illegal.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-06-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200622","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"","caseTitle":"Case of Kutsenko in Chita","date":"2020-06-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita2/index.html#20200622","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["complaints","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the raid in Kerch on May 26, 2020, law enforcement officers kept the 29-year-old father of two young children, Artyom Shabliy, undressed for several hours in the cold, resulting in his illness. His 4-year-old son cut his legs on shatters from the windows broken by the law enforcers. In total 5 houses of believers were searched that day.\nOn May 26th, 2020 at 6 a.m. investigator for especially important cases V. Zarubin initiated a criminal case against Artem Shabliy under part 1.1. of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. One hour later, a group of 10 armed men stormed his house, breaking a gate and window panes.\nThe believer was handcuffed and placed on a cold, damp floor, threatening to use a stun gun. Artyom was not allowed to stand up for a long time, although he did not resist. During the 3-hour search, the believer, wearing only underwear, stood facing the wall and was handcuffed. Because of the broken windows and open doors in the house, the believer fell ill - that morning the temperature outside ranged between 13 and 16 degrees Celsius.\nThe young children of Artyom suffered - the older 4-year-old son cut his legs on the glass, dotted the floor. The security forces confiscated a computer, phones, literature, documents, postcards mentioning the name of Jehovah God.\nA window broken by security forces in the house of Artem Shabliy during the assault. Kerch. May 26, 2020. After Artyom had been searched, he was taken to the Investigation Department. There, he stood in the corridor for two hours waiting for interrogation. Artyom's handcuffs were only taken off in the investigator's office. One of the law enforcers put pressure on him, saying: \"It’s Armageddon for you! I'll baptize you by eight years of imprisonment. You're going to plant trees in a joint and tailor my uniform.\"\nThe investigator, Major of Justice Valery Zarubin, processed the administrative detention for two days against Artyom and sent him to the detention center. The believer was locked in a cold, dirty room measuring 1 by 2 meters, with no furniture. Artyom had to stand again until two hours later he was given a mattress, a dirty pillow, a short sheet and a blanket.\nArtyom was not allowed to make a legal call to his family. All this time, no water or food was given to the believer. It was only at 18:00 that Artyom ate what his wife had brought him for the first time in a day. The isolation cell also had no technical water until 11:00 the next day until he was transferred to another room.\nThe next day, the investigation continued. Zarubin insisted that Artyom plead guilty. He refused Shabliy's requests to replace the investigator and the lawyer. From the detention center, where Artyom spent two days, he was released under an obligation to appear. At the exit from the detention center facility, the believer felt ill and had to call an ambulance. Without waiting for the doctors, his friends took Artyom to the hospital, where he was examined. The believer filed a complaint with the law enforcement agencies about the illegal actions of law enforcement officers.\nIt is noteworthy that the criminal prosecution of Artyom Shabliy started after a statement by an Igor Dukhanin. Earlier a man with the same name initiated conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses in Kerch, portraying his interest in the Bible. According to the Crimean Prosecutor's Office, in 2015 a local resident with such name and surname was sentenced to 2.5 years conditionally for extremist activities - distribution of leaflets inciting national hatred.\nLaw-enforcement agencies of Ukraine became interested in violation of the rights of believers in Kerch and a criminal case was initiated on the fact of illegal searches.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-06-10T17:20:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/invasion-surgut_hu_d47978800fa5e21b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/invasion-surgut.jpg","webp":"/news/common/invasion-surgut_hu_e7e36e7e158e908a.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/invasion-surgut_hu_28a0fe43c2e78d82.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/06/9.html","regions":["crimea"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","health-risk","torture","minors","siloviks-violence","new-case","282.2-1.1","interrogation","ivs","torture-conditions","summon"],"title":"\"It Is Armageddon For You!\" After a Provocateur's Denunciation, the Kerch Law Enforcers Kept a Believer Undressed for Three Hours in the Cold","type":"news"},{"body":"The Investigative Committee refuses to satisfy the appeal, arguing that the check did not confirm the fact of torture. The Investigative Committee confined itself to taking explanations from the operatives, who were allegedly forced to use force in response to Kutsenko's resistance.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-04-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200406","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Investigative Committee refuses to open a criminal case on torture against Kutsenko, arguing that the check did not confirm the facts of the use of violence. At the same time, the investigative committee confines itself to taking explanations from the operatives, who said that they used force in response to Kutsenko's resistance.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-04-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200406","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A joint statement of the 27 European states-members of the European Union (EU) was circulated on March 12, 2020, in Vienna at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The statement was joined by another six non-EU countries.\nAmong other things, the statement said: \"... Jehovah's Witnesses must be able to peacefully enjoy their human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and freedom of expression, without discrimination. We call on the authorities to drop all charges against individuals who have been unjustifiably prosecuted or prosecuted for exercising human rights.\"\nThe European Union cites shocking statistics: \"Since the liquidation of all local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 869 house searches have reportedly been conducted, 26 people are in pre-trial detention, 23 are under house arrest, 316 have been charged and 29 have already been convicted.\"\nThe statement lists the most egregious recent cases of ill-treatment of believers by Russian officials: \"According to reports from the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, which were also reflected in Forum 18 reports and media articles, on 6 February 2020, in Orenburg, prison No. 1 officers beat five citizens (Alexei Budenchuk, Gennady German, Roman Gridasov, Felix Makhammadiev and Alexei Miretsky). All of them suffered serious injuries, and one of them required hospitalization. In addition, on February 10, 2020, it was reported that Vadim Kutsenko was tortured before he was taken into custody. Law enforcement officers repeatedly beat and choked him, as well as beat him with electric shocks, demanding information about other Jehovah's Witnesses.\"\nThe European Union pledged to continue to \"closely monitor developments around Jehovah's Witnesses in the OSCE region.\"\n","category":"rights","date":"2020-03-17T18:00:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/03/6/image_hu_17c1bf7f45be9c2a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/03/6/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/03/6/image_hu_86e1e63efe5828ce.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/03/6/image_hu_35999351caac64a5.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/03/6.html","regions":["austria","eu","saratov","zabaykalsky"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["eu","international","osce","siloviks-violence","torture"],"title":"European Union Calls on Russian Authorities to Stop Ill-Treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"In a joint statement , 27 European states that are members of the European Union (EU), as well as 6 other non-EU countries, at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), call for an investigation into the report that Vadim Kutsenko, before he was detained, was tortured. Law enforcement officers repeatedly beat and choked him, as well as beat him with electric shocks, demanding information about other Jehovah's Witnesses.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-03-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200312","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["international","osce","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"At a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, 27 European Union countries, as well as 6 other non-EU states, in a joint statement called for an investigation into allegations of torture of Vadim Kutsenko.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kutsenko in Chita","date":"2020-03-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita2/index.html#20200312","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["international","osce","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 10, 2020, during searches in Transbaikalia, law enforcement officers handcuffed 31-year-old Vadim Kutsenko behind his back, closed his eyes and subjected him to beatings, strangulation and electric shocks to the lower leg and abdomen in an official car, demanding a confession.\nVadim Kutsenko was detained late at night with his wife's parents. During the torture, he refused to admit guilt or give false testimony against fellow believers. The official car stopped in the forest behind the SibVO stadium in Chita. Vadim Kutsenko was stripped of his hat and forced to get out of the car, threatening to stage an escape attempt. They also put him facing the car and beat him on the legs. After that, he was taken to the investigator, where he immediately declared the torture inflicted on him.\nThe believer is still in custody. Not later than February 15, the court must choose a measure of restraint against him. On February 12, the Ingodinsky District Court of Chita extended the term of his detention for three days, as well as the detention of believers Pavel Mamalimov and Sergey Kirilyuk. Vladimir Yermolayev was placed under house arrest.\nRaids in Transbaikalia took place at least at 40 addresses, 28 people were detained, one was beaten. Read how events developed\n","category":"crime","date":"2020-02-14T10:09:05+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/02/46/46-2_hu_4a8d9a4b9567090.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/02/46/46-2_hu_6b48f41513af32f8.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/02/46/46-2_hu_2abbe5bff784e957.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/02/46/46-2_hu_3d025dfb22c8c1e4.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/02/46.html","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","siloviks-violence"],"title":"In Chita, Vadim Kutsenko Reports That During Interrogation He Was Beaten Using Electric Shock to His Stomach and Leg","type":"news"},{"body":"Vadim Kutsenko sends an appeal to the head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Trans-Baikal Territory, Y. S. Rusanov, with a request to initiate a criminal case on the fact of torture and bring the perpetrators to justice.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-02-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200214","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vadim Kutsenko sends an appeal to the head of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Trans-Baikal Territory, Y.S. Rusanov, with a request to initiate a criminal case on the fact of torture and bring the perpetrators to justice.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kutsenko in Chita","date":"2020-02-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita2/index.html#20200214","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["complaints","torture","siloviks-violence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the day, officers of the FSB and other bodies conduct searches in 50 houses of believers in cities and towns of the Trans-Baikal Territory, namely: Chita (20 searches), Khilok (4 searches), Krasnokamensk (4 searches), Baley (3 searches) and Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky (2 searches), the villages of Yasnogorsk (6 searches), Amazar (4 searches), Duldurga (2 searches), Verkhnyaya Hila (1 search), Kurort-Darasun (1 search) and Pervomaiskoye (1 search), as well as in the villages of Verkh-Chita (1 search), Zasopka (1 search) and Ilya (1 search). (Information about raids against believers in Karymsky and Shilka has not been confirmed.) At least 10 people were detained for interrogation. 31-year-old Vladimir Ermolaev (married), 47-year-old Sergey Kirilyuk (married), Pavel Mamalimov (married, has a young daughter), 31-year-old Vadim Kutsenko (married) remain in custody.\nDuring a search in the home of another family, the security forces beat the minor Alexander Karpov. Law enforcement officers forcibly knocked him to the floor, put his hands behind his head and beat him in front of his mother and younger sister. The young man is forced to \"crawl\" into the living room, where law enforcement officers read out a search warrant. The search lasts 12 hours. (Later, the lawyer in Alexander's interests filed a complaint with the investigation department about the actions of the security forces. The medical expert records the traces of beatings, and a specialist goes to inspect the house, who removes tights with traces of Alexander's blood.)\nAmong others, the search takes place in the house of Olga Polyakova, a 62-year-old resident of Khilka, a disabled person of group III. Although she has difficulty moving, she is taken away for interrogation after the search. In the same city, security forces search the home of the Maltsev family. Both spouses are on disability and are raising a minor daughter. During the search, an ambulance is called for the spouses. Despite this, the head of the family, Vadim, is taken away for interrogation.\nThe Vasilyev spouses, who live in Kurort-Darasun with four minor children, were invaded by law enforcement officers early in the morning. During the search, the head of the family, a disabled person of group III, felt unwell, but he was still taken away for interrogation.\nThe Investigative Committee reports that more than 30 investigative and operational groups were formed before the raids, which simultaneously worked in Chita and the districts of the Trans-Baikal Territory.\n31-year-old Vadim Kutsenko is handcuffed behind his back, his eyes are closed and he is subjected to beatings, strangulation and electric shocks to the lower leg and abdomen in an official car, demanding a confession. During the torture, Vadim Kutsenko refuses to admit guilt or give false testimony against his fellow believers. A company car stops in the forest behind the SibVO stadium. They take off his hat from his eyes and force him to get out of the car and beat him on the legs. After that, he is taken to the investigator, where he immediately declares the torture applied to him.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200210","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture","siloviks-violence","minors","search","interrogation","health-risk","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vadim Kutsenko's house is being searched as part of a special operation against Chita's Jehovah's Witnesses. At the same time, he is tortured and detained.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kutsenko in Chita","date":"2020-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita2/index.html#20200210","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["search","torture","siloviks-violence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Believers who are being held in pre-trial detention are writing an open letter to the governor of the Kaluga region, Anatoly Artamonov. Dmitry Kuzin in his letter reports on abuses by FSB officer E. Beijing, who led the search in his apartment.\nRoman Makhnev informs the governor that printed publications were planted in his house, that he demanded to conduct a sweat study of these publications (to identify fingerprints) in order to prove that he or his relatives were not involved in them, but this was not done by the investigation. In addition, Roman Makhnev reports that during the search, which lasted until half past three at night, he was constantly handcuffed, and in the FSB building he was handcuffed to a radiator until the morning and was not fed for two days.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Makhnev and Kuzin in Kaluga","date":"2019-08-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaluga/index.html#20190828","regions":["kaluga"],"tags":["sizo","plant","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On August 14, 2019, Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), met in Surgut (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area) with local Jehovah's Witnesses, who officially announced the torture inflicted on them on February 15, 2019 by employees of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. The meeting was held in the conference hall of the Central City Library named after A. Pushkin. In addition to human rights defenders, it was attended by the head of the Investigative Committee in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the first deputy prosecutor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the deputy governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the mayor of Surgut. The heads of law enforcement agencies were unable to explain why, despite strong evidence, a criminal case on the fact of torture has not yet been opened. On the part of the believers, there were 28 people – victims, as well as members of their families, who helped them cope with the psychological consequences of their experiences. In addition, the believers told what pressure they were subjected to from law enforcement officers: mothers were intimidated by the weaning of children, wives by the fact that they would not see their husbands, husbands by the fact that their wives would be put in cells and raped, etc. After the initiation of a criminal case, they cannot live normally: someone is asked to quit their jobs; someone is afraid to let children go outside; someone shrinks with fear when he sees police officers; someone cannot sleep in constant anticipation of the next morning search; The children ask their parents if the soldiers will come to them again. (The latter applies equally to hundreds of believers and their families across the country.) Believers also had the opportunity to talk about the nature of their religious beliefs with a Bible in their hands. Natalia Fedina, the wife of one of the accused, expressed a general idea: \"A paradoxical situation: on the one hand, my husband was put in a pre-trial detention center, a criminal case was opened against 19 people, but there is not a single victim; On the other hand, there are 7 people who were tortured here, and there is not a single criminal case!\" After the meeting, Mikhail Fedotov said: \"My conclusion: we must get to the bottom of the truth. I am far from agreeing in advance with any side of this story, but what is clear is that torture is absolutely unacceptable, and allegations of torture must be verified as fully, comprehensively and exhaustively as possible. We cannot allow such evil to exist in our land. The President has a very negative attitude towards the facts of torture. We remember his words that this is an absolutely unacceptable practice.\" ","category":"rights","date":"2019-08-15T14:18:03+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/08/1070/fedotov_0_hu_faeed2423715383d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/08/1070/fedotov_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/08/1070/fedotov_0_hu_ea26babec834b60e.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/08/1070/fedotov_0_hu_9d31519611109e79.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/08/1070.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","presidential-council","health-risk","work-restrictions","minors"],"title":"\"We have to get to the bottom of the truth.\" In Surgut, the head of the Human Rights Council interviewed believers who were tortured ","type":"news"},{"body":"Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), meets in Surgut with local believers who reported being tortured on February 15, 2019, as well as their family members. The meeting takes place in the conference hall of the Central City Library named after A. Pushkin.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-08-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190814","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["torture","presidential-council"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"After a sleepless night, Roman Makhnev is subjected to investigative actions. Neither on June 26, nor on June 27, nor on June 28, he was presented with any food. It was not until June 29 that he was fed breakfast for the first time.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Makhnev and Kuzin in Kaluga","date":"2019-06-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaluga/index.html#20190627","regions":["kaluga"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A group of armed masked militants invades the apartment of 87-year-old believer Olga Verevkina. In Kaluga, the FSB raids at least 6 apartments until late at night. Electronic devices, Bibles, scientific books on religious studies are seized from Kaluga residents.\n43-year-old Roman Makhnev claims that banned literature was planted in his house, his 15-year-old daughter is taken outside and forced to stand barefoot in the rain while the house is searched. Roman Makhnev was taken to the FSB building, where he was handcuffed to a pipe and left in this position until the next morning.\nIt becomes known that the Investigative Department of the FSB of Russia for the Kaluga Region is initiating a criminal case for faith under Article 282.2 (1) against local Jehovah's Witnesses.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Makhnev and Kuzin in Kaluga","date":"2019-06-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaluga/index.html#20190626","regions":["kaluga"],"tags":["search","plant","siloviks-violence","torture","new-case"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Victims of torture meet with the Human Rights Ombudsman for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and employees of the offices of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-06-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190611","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["torture","commissioner-rf"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A press conference is being held in Moscow highlighting the authorities' response to a complaint by 7 Surgut Jehovah's Witnesses who reported torture. The event is held at the Press Center of the Rosbalt News Agency at the address: Moscow, Skatertny per., 4/2 with the participation of well-known human rights activists, lawyers and representatives of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-03-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190328","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["press-conference","torture","human-right-organizations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 28, 2019, a press conference will be held in Moscow highlighting the authorities' response to the complaint of 7 Surgut Jehovah's Witnesses who reported torture during interrogations on February 15, 2019.\nThe press conference will be attended by well-known human rights defenders, lawyers and a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nThe event will be held at the Press Center of the Rosbalt News Agency at the address: Moscow, Skatertny per., 4/2, p. 1. The press center organizes a live video broadcast of the conference. It starts on March 28, 2019 at 12:00 p.m.\n","category":"rights","date":"2019-03-26T19:52:59+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/03/691/adobestock_79103334__0_hu_eb34277bead45a80.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/03/691/adobestock_79103334__0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/03/691/adobestock_79103334__0_hu_1d4972b4faf39b14.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/03/691/adobestock_79103334__0_hu_5854828283af862c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/03/691.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","human-rights-defenders"],"title":"Announcement of the press conference \"Torture of Jehovah's Witnesses in Surgut. New facts of persecution. Expert opinion\"","type":"news"},{"body":"On 20 March 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) lifted the urgent interim measures imposed in the event of a threat to the applicant's life. However, the cessation of such a threat, which makes it possible to remove interim measures, does not mean that the ECHR recognized the failure to prove the torture committed on February 15, 2019. The ECHR continues to consider the complaint of Sergey Loginov and other believers from Surgut (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area) about the torture inflicted on them.\nOn March 18, 2019, the Russian Government, in its response to the ECHR, referring to the medical examinations carried out, indicated the absence of diseases preventing the detention of Sergey Loginov. However, an independent medical examination for torture (examination of the skin by experts in the field of forensic medical examination, psychological research) has not yet been carried out in relation to the believer.\nThe believer's lawyer requested an independent examination with the involvement of dermatologists and psychologists, as well as other highly specialized experts specializing in skin burns, in order to identify traces of the use of stun guns and the psychological consequences of torture. In response to this petition, the believer, who was beaten with a stun gun through a wet cloth to reduce the appearance of burns on his body, was externally examined by a paramedic of the pre-trial detention center through the prison bars! Later, a consultation with a psychiatrist was organized in the pre-trial detention center for the presence of mental illness in Loginov. Meanwhile, the defense did not doubt that he did not have mental illness, but asked to identify the psychological trauma caused by the use of torture. Russia has not done this.\nOn March 5, 2019, 18 days after the torture, when the traces of burns caused by the stun gun became indistinguishable, Loginov was examined at the Nizhnevartovsk District Clinical Hospital for the presence of diseases that prevent his detention. At the same time, specialists in the field of studying the skin and a psychologist were still not involved in the examination.\nThus, the Russian authorities replaced the requirement to examine Loginov for torture with a medical report on his general state of health. Believers continue to seek an investigation into what happened.\n","category":"rights","date":"2019-03-21T21:38:33+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/03/681/702013119_univ_lsr_xl2999_0_hu_2bb747ab688e3ccc.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/03/681/702013119_univ_lsr_xl2999_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/03/681/702013119_univ_lsr_xl2999_0_hu_696303f32266b608.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/03/681/702013119_univ_lsr_xl2999_0_hu_5d9f730ee10adda9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/03/681.html","regions":["france","khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["echr","complaints","torture","health-risk","sizo"],"title":"The ECHR lifted the interim measures, but continues to consider the complaint of Surgut residents about torture","type":"news"},{"body":"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) lifts the urgent interim measures, but continues to consider the complaint of Sergey Loginov and other believers of Surgut about the torture applied to them.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-03-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190320","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["echr","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 25, 2019, Andrey Babushkin, head of the standing commission on assistance to the Public Monitoring Commission, penitentiary system reform and crime prevention, as well as a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, demanded to stop the criminal activities of the security forces responsible for torturing Jehovah's Witnesses detained in Surgut. His appeal was addressed to the Prosecutor General, the head of the Investigative Committee, as well as the chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.\nIn his statement, the human rights activist described what happened to the detained believers in the dungeons of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Surgut. Andrei Babushkin demanded that a criminal case be opened against the security forces for abuse of office and organization of a criminal community (Articles 286.3 and 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and \"to choose a preventive measure against them that excludes their criminal activity.\"\nIn addition, Andrey Babushkin asked the PMC officers to visit Sergey Loginov in the pre-trial detention center and interview him about torture.\nEarly in the morning of February 15, 2019, in Surgut, Lyantor and other settlements of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, mass searches were carried out in the homes of citizens who are suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. At least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were tortured in the buildings of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Surgut. A criminal case under the article \"organization and participation of an extremist organization\" was initiated against 20 local residents, including women. On February 16, 2019, believers in Surgut contacted the hotline of the TFR on the fact of torture. On February 17, 2019, the court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention in a pre-trial detention center for three of them.\n","category":"rights","date":"2019-02-27T17:27:51+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/02/636/lori-0000576000-bigwww-crop_hu_d5e9011b84d6367d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/02/636/lori-0000576000-bigwww-crop.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/02/636/lori-0000576000-bigwww-crop_hu_80d94d8749bd8711.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/02/636/lori-0000576000-bigwww-crop_hu_c501025a7ef12e60.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/02/636.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","presidential-council","human-right-organizations","sizo"],"title":"Demand to investigate allegations of torture in Surgut","type":"news"},{"body":"On February 26, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the Russian government to urgently send for a medical examination 57-year-old Sergey Loginov, one of 7 Surgut residents who reported torture in the building of the Investigative Committee. Sergey Loginov is the only one of these seven who is in custody.\nAccording to the order of the Strasbourg court, the Russian government must send Sergey Loginov for examination to a medical institution independent of the Investigative Committee and the penitentiary authorities by March 20, 2019, in order to examine his physical and psychological condition, as well as the harm allegedly caused to him by torture on February 15 and 16, 2019. Doctors must determine whether he needs treatment and whether his condition is compatible with his further stay behind bars. By March 11, 2019, opinions prepared by independent doctors must be submitted to the European Court.\nThe complaint \"Loginov and Others v. Russia\" was prepared and submitted to the European Court in a short time, it was assigned the number 10618/19.\nThree believers, Sergey Loginov, Yevgeny Fedin and Artur Severinchik, were sent to jail in connection with this case. They are in a pre-trial detention center in Nizhnevartovsk (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area). There were no reports that Yevgeny Fedin and Artur Severinchik were tortured. Earlier in Surgut (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), mass searches and detentions of citizens suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses took place. At least 7 people reported that they were beaten and tortured during interrogations in the building of the Investigative Committee. In total, 20 local residents, including a woman, became defendants in this case. On February 16, 2019, the hotline of the Investigative Committee of Russia received an appeal with a request to take action in connection with reports of torture of Sergey Loginov.\nLaw enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization, referring to a court decision to liquidate and ban the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses organizations in Russia.\n","category":"rights","date":"2019-02-27T15:28:51+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/02/627/image_hu_82e791bf0fd8da90.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/02/627/image_hu_f16ebbeb9e25bc63.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/02/627/image_hu_5b7f1ed8f664732f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/02/627/image_hu_e58b44e875621a60.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/02/627.html","regions":["khanty-mansi","france"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["echr","torture","complaints","sizo","review"],"title":"ECHR imposed interim measures on a complaint of torture in Surgut","type":"news"},{"body":"According to complaint No. 10618/19, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) orders the Russian government to release Sergey Loginov, who has been tortured, from custody under house arrest and urgently send him for a medical examination.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-02-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190226","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["echr","torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\n","date":"2019-02-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/638.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["echr","torture"],"title":"Imposition of interim measures by the Strasbourg Court on the complaint \"Loginov and Others v. Russia\"","type":"docs"},{"body":"Andrey Babushkin, the head of the permanent system for assistance to the Public Monitoring Commission, a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, sends an appeal to the Prosecutor General, the head of the Investigative Committee, as well as the chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) for the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug demanding to stop the criminal activities of the security forces responsible for torture.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-02-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190225","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["torture","human-right-organizations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 20, 2019, an application was filed with the Office of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra to disqualify the investigation team due to sufficient grounds to believe that the head of the investigation department for the city of Surgut Ermolaev V.V., investigators Tkach S.V., Adiyatullin A.F., Gaisin S.S., Bogoderov S.A., Asmolov D.L. and other representatives of law enforcement agencies tortured detained Jehovah's Witnesses.\nAs previously reported, at least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were subjected to electric shocks, strangulation and beatings in the building of the Investigative Committee of Russia at 47 Ostrovsky Street in Surgut. By torture, believers were forced to answer the questions: \"Where do the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses take place? Who comes to the meetings? What are the names of the elders? What's the password on your phone?\"\nOn February 15 and 16, 2019, at least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were tortured — electric shocks, strangulation.\nOn February 16, 2019, the hotline of the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) received an appeal with a request to take measures to the investigator of the Surgut Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Dmitry Asmolov in connection with reports of torture taking place on the first floor of the building of the Investigative Committee of Russia on Ostrovsky Street, 47, in Surgut in between his interrogations. After the hotline received a message about the torture of 57-year-old Sergey Loginov, he was immediately released, but after that he was again detained and under torture forced to write an explanation that no one had tortured him. After that, he was not allowed to go home. It is not known what is now in the pre-trial detention center with him, as well as with two other arrested - 42-year-old Yevgeny Fedin and 52-year-old Artur Severinchik.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2019-02-20T17:02:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/02/626/190220_zayavlenie_ob_otvode_sledstvennoy_gruppy4621_hu_eafea3695fa9e91d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/02/626/190220_zayavlenie_ob_otvode_sledstvennoy_gruppy4621.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/02/626/190220_zayavlenie_ob_otvode_sledstvennoy_gruppy4621_hu_df959481e97e0a27.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/02/626/190220_zayavlenie_ob_otvode_sledstvennoy_gruppy4621_hu_91459caa315c51aa.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/02/626.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","complaints","sizo","torture-conditions"],"title":"Disqualification of the Investigation Team in Surgut in Connection with Allegations of Torture","type":"news"},{"body":"On February 16, 2019, the hotline of the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) received an appeal with a request to take measures to the investigator of the Surgut Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Dmitry Leonidovich Asmolov in connection with reports of torture occurring on the first floor of the building of the Investigative Committee of Russia on Ostrovsky Street, 47, in Surgut in between his interrogations.\nOn February 15 and 16, 2019, at least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were tortured — electric shocks, strangulation to the point of unconsciousness, and sophisticated beatings. After the torture, the investigators forced them to answer the questions: \"Where do the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses take place? Who comes to the meetings? What are the names of the elders? What's the password on your phone?\"\nAccording to believers, torture was used in between interrogations conducted by the following investigators: investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Committee for the city of Surgut of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Tkach Stepan Vladimirovich, investigator of the Surgut Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Asmolov Dmitry Leonidovich, investigator Bogodelov Sergey Alekseevich. After the torture, the investigators helped the believers to come to their senses, offered water, paper handkerchiefs and gently reproached the believers for bringing themselves to \"trouble\" with their taciturnity.\nThose of the believers who were released recorded bodily injuries and appealed to the supervisory authorities, including the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, outlining the circumstances of the incident.\nAfter the hotline received a message about the torture of 57-year-old Sergey Loginov, he was immediately released, but after that he was again detained and under torture forced to write an explanation that no one had tortured him. After that, he was not allowed to go home. It is not known what is now in the pre-trial detention center with him, as well as with two other arrested - 42-year-old Yevgeny Fedin and 52-year-old Artur Severinchik.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2019-02-20T15:36:52+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/02/624/lori-0002534797-bigwww-crop_hu_ff17023a73f28f8f.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/02/624/lori-0002534797-bigwww-crop_hu_b163a81166b9a189.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/02/624/lori-0002534797-bigwww-crop_hu_6f52431d4b183f94.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/02/624/lori-0002534797-bigwww-crop_hu_b0fea021f92a5c0c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/02/624.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["complaints","torture","interrogation","sizo"],"title":"Believers in Surgut appealed to the hotline of the TFR on the fact of torture","type":"news"},{"body":"On February 17, 2019, the Surgut City Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra chose 42-year-old Yevgeny Fedin, 57-year-old Sergey Loginov and 50-year-old Artur Severinchik as a preventive measure in the form of detention in a pre-trial detention center. A criminal case under the article \"organization and participation of an extremist organization\" was initiated against 19 local residents, including women.\nOn February 15, 2019, mass searches were carried out in the homes of believers in the city. This was followed by beatings and torture of at least 7 believers with electric shocks, strangulation and beatings, which took place on the first floor of the building of the Investigative Committee of Russia at 47 Ostrovsky Street in Surgut.\nSergey Loginov, 57, was tortured, among others. On Saturday, February 16, 2019, his friends contacted the hotline of the Investigative Committee of Russia with a request to take action against the investigator of the Surgut department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Dmitry Leonidovich Asmolov in connection with incoming reports of torture. After contacting the hotline, Sergey Loginov was immediately released, but after that he was again detained and, under torture, forced to write an explanation that no one had tortured him. After that, he was not allowed to go home.\nLaw enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization, referring to a court decision to liquidate and ban the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses organizations in Russia.\n","category":"restriction","date":"2019-02-20T15:32:58+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/02/623/depositphotos_18573119_0_1_hu_e4cc14d2169bc51c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/02/623/depositphotos_18573119_0_1.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/02/623/depositphotos_18573119_0_1_hu_6e8eef7dc4a96af6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/02/623/depositphotos_18573119_0_1_hu_eb738af7a5a4a71f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/02/623.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sizo","new-case","torture","complaints"],"title":"Three Believers Thrown Into Prison in Surgut After Torture","type":"news"},{"body":"Lawyer Kolobov D.M. submits an application to the Office of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra for the disqualification of the investigation team in connection with the use of torture against 7 believers by the head of the investigative department for the city of Surgut Ermolaev V.V., investigators: Tkach S.V., Adiyatullin A.F., Gaisin S.S., Bogoderov S.A., Asmolov D.L. and other representatives of law enforcement agencies.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-02-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190220","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["torture"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\n","date":"2019-02-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/625.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["torture"],"title":"Application for the disqualification of the investigation team in Surgut","type":"docs"},{"body":"At least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were subjected to electric shocks, strangulation to the point of unconsciousness, and sophisticated beatings. The torture was carried out on the first floor of the building of the Investigative Committee of Russia at 47 Ostrovsky Street in Surgut. By torture, believers were forced to answer the questions: \"Where do the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses take place? Who comes to the meetings? What are the names of the elders? What's the password on your phone?\"\nOn the morning of February 15, 2019, mass searches began in the homes of believers in Surgut, after which they were taken to the building of the Investigative Committee. During interrogation, they refused to incriminate themselves and their fellow believers. After the lawyer on duty left, they were tied with tape behind their backs and beaten, stripped naked, doused with water and used a stun gun. The torture continued for several hours.\nAt least three believers remain in the pre-trial detention center.\nA criminal case was opened against 19 local residents for the so-called \"organization of an extremist organization.\"\nThose of the believers who were released recorded bodily injuries and appealed to the supervisory authorities, outlining the circumstances of the incident.\nBelievers will seek a thorough investigation of the sadistic treatment, the identification of the organizers and participants of the torture conveyor. Torture, cruel or degrading treatment is a criminal offence. The Russian Federation is a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture and Inhuman Treatment.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2019-02-19T23:27:59+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/02/622/lori-0005433418-bigwww-crop_hu_346cc6b3f86ce8c6.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/02/622/lori-0005433418-bigwww-crop_hu_2e5c529cd97a2ade.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/02/622/lori-0005433418-bigwww-crop_hu_d5d375bd9f22cb6d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/02/622/lori-0005433418-bigwww-crop_hu_354c8aea0e6d5030.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/02/622.html","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["torture","interrogation","sizo","complaints"],"title":"Torture of Jehovah's Witnesses in Surgut","type":"news"},{"body":"Mass searches are being carried out in the homes of citizens of Surgut, Lyantor and other settlements of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. At least 15 people were detained and taken to the investigating authorities for interrogation.\nIt becomes known about the use of torture during interrogations in the Investigative Committee (electric shocks, strangulation to unconsciousness and beatings) against 7 detained believers: Sergey Loginov (born in 1961), Yevgeny Kayryak (born in 1986), Vyacheslav Boronos (born in 1966), Artyom Kim (born in 1988), Alexey Plekhov (born in 1977), Savely Gargalyk (born in 1960), Sergey Volosnikov (born in 1977).\nThe hotline of the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) receives an appeal from affected believers with a request to take measures to the investigator of the Surgut Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Dmitry Leonidovich Asmolov in connection with incoming reports of torture.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2019-02-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20190215","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["search","interrogation","torture"],"type":"timeline"}]