Police officers conducted searches at the premises of Jehovah's Witnesses

On December 14, the service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tula was interrupted by the police, and on December 18, law enforcement officers came to the service in Smolensk. This was reported to OVD-Info by the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

According to the press service, three men unknown to the parishioners came to the worship service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tula, who, apparently, brought with them books included in the federal list of extremist materials of Rosfinmonitoring. Then the policemen led by Grigory Nikolaev, an employee of the Center for Combating Extremism, entered the hall, and at that moment two of the three strangers quickly left the premises, and in their places there was forbidden literature, which the police officers immediately noticed. The third man did not go anywhere, but, on the contrary, stayed and gave detailed explanations to law enforcement officers - as if he were an ordinary parishioner.

According to the SOVA Center, on December 17, police officers, along with Cossacks, came to the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Sochi. The police blocked the doors and then conducted a search, during which a publication included in the list of extremist literature was seized. At the same time, the witness, who testified to what was happening, helped knock out the gate when the security forces tried to enter the building.

On December 18, policemen came to Jehovah's Witnesses in Smolensk:

On December 18, 2016, in the city of Smolensk, about 15 armed OMON officers, investigators, and policemen entered the building for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses on st. Pushkin, when a divine service was held there with the participation of about 60 believers ( see photo ). Law enforcement officers deliberately entered the toilet and pretended to have found a brochure included in the list of extremist materials. At the same time, a search took place in a private house where Jehovah's Witnesses live. Believers note that police officers behaved rudely and used force against women. When one of the believers felt seriously ill, the police, under the threat of force, prevented him from calling for emergency medical assistance for a long time.

The premises of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country are regularly searched, during which the police each time find extremist literature. On September 20, for example, literature was “found” in the village of Nezlobnaya, Stavropol Territory:

This is already a well-established scheme, according to which law enforcement agencies have achieved the banning of several local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses. Fortunately, in some cases, the courts see that the evidence against Jehovah's Witnesses is falsified, and refuse to impose sanctions on believers.