In Voronezh, law enforcement officers disrupted a worship service of Jehovah's Witnesses

On October 9, law enforcement officials searched a room in Voronezh rented by Jehovah's Witnesses. At that time, a large divine service was held there, which was attended by about 650 believers. This was reported by the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

Before the start of the service, the believers inspected the premises and found a publication from the FSEM behind the curtain, which they immediately destroyed.

“At 8:00, when the entrance was opened for worship visitors, five men came. It was clear that they were not Jehovah's Witnesses. After talking with one of the believers, they left. Then three more people (a woman and two young men) entered the room and sat together in the hall until the lunch break. To the believers in charge of order, they seemed suspicious. One young man had a package,” the spokesman said.

During the lunch break, police officers came along with two witnesses. The police officers explained that a call was received on the telephone "02" that an offense was being committed in this room. When asked what exactly the offense was, they refused to answer and began to conduct an inspection.

“Seeing the policemen, the suspicious man who had the package hurriedly left the premises, leaving the package on the seat. The police quickly walked around the perimeter of the hall, and then went straight to the place where the suspicious man was sitting. During the service, the believers had only Bibles and song books in their hands; they, of course, did not use any prohibited items. Despite the fact that many believers in the hall had packages, law enforcement officers were not interested in them. Without wasting time looking at other packages, they, of course, "found" and seized the same one. And it unexpectedly contained a book that had not been used by Jehovah's Witnesses for more than 10 years, but was included in the FSEM. Also, in some corner, they found a brochure “How to find happiness in a family?” (Included in the FSEM),” the press service of the Management Center told OVD-Info.