Fedor Chistyakov left Russia

The leader of the zero group Fedor Chistyakov decided not to return to Russia due to the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses. Now he is in New York.

Chistyakov told about this to Novaya Gazeta . According to the musician, he was not going to emigrate.

“I have firmly settled on the spot, I am already fifty, where to go? He says. - In addition, right now everything is going very well, like a musician I am on the rise: a good group, an established tour system, albums come out one after another. And so we flew with a tour in the USA. And the day before, a trial took place, the result of which was the ban on "witnesses." It was a shock for me. The probability that I will not return from the American tour began to increase strongly. And on July 17, when the appeal was rejected, I made a final decision. ”

Jehovah's witnesses appeared in Russia at the end of the 19th century. Since then, they were almost constantly under the pressure of the authorities, in the USSR they were in an illegal position for a long time, repeatedly underwent arrests and deportations.

In the spring of 2017, by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the activities of the organization “Management Center for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia” and all its regional 395 branches were recognized as extremist and prohibited it in Russia. On July 17, the Supreme Court rejected Jehovah's appellate complaint, and its decision entered into force.

“The only thing I look in the mirror in the morning, every time I can’t believe that I, Fedor Chistyakov, are an extremist and the threat of Russian national security. I am not engaged in the fight against the regime. Moreover, I respect power. And they played me like a map in a large political game. This is some kind of nonsense, ”Chistyakov said.

He also said that the zero group will continue to record another album. He himself will take part in his work on him remotely, from New York.