July 2012: Cases of disruption of religious services, detentions of Jehovah's Witnesses and searches of their homes

On July 31, 2012, a number of cases of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses became known.

On July 6, law enforcement officers disrupted a religious meeting in the village of Murmashi, Murmansk Region.

On July 7 and 12, 2012, during a sermon, police officers detained two Jehovah's Witnesses from Nolinsk, Kirov region; during a police search, religious literature was confiscated from them. On July 27, 2012, R. and A. Badretdinov, Jehovah's Witnesses of Buinsk (Tatarstan), were detained. At the police station they were questioned, photographed and searched. Brochures were confiscated. On July 29, 2012, E. Puzakova and E. Makarenko, residents of Andreapol, Tver Region, were detained and interrogated.

On July 13, 2012, searches were carried out in five houses of Jehovah's Witnesses in the village of Kalevala (Karelia). Religious literature was taken from the Zabolotnykhs' house, literature, a laptop, CDs and DVDs were confiscated from the Leontievs, and in the house of Kolenen and S. Naumov, in addition to literature and discs, personal belongings were confiscated. In one of the houses, the owners were not at home during the search; the door was broken into by FSB officers in the Republic of Karelia. Religious literature, CDs and DVDs were confiscated.

Protocols on administrative offenses were drawn up against Jehovah's Witnesses Novokuznetsk D. Kornienko and S. Sushilnikov and member of the Saratov community A. Zhukov. Several criminal cases have been initiated against Jehovah's Witnesses in Chuvashia. On July 17, 2012, Jehovah's Witness Elista V. Sarankaev was given a “warning about the inadmissibility of violating the law” by an employee of Center “E” and an assistant prosecutor.

Sources

• Information on the manifestation of religious intolerance towards Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia in the period from July 1, 2012 to July 31, 2012 // Message from the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. 2012. July 31.