Jehovah's witnesses became accused

The spouses Tatyana and Konstantin Petrov from childhood were followers of Jehovah's Witnesses. He is from Nizhnevartovsk. She is from the Krasnodar Territory. They got married in the winter of 2017, shortly before the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the management center of witnesses with an extremist organization and banned the activities of Jehovahors. Soon the young family moved to Magadan for permanent residence. Here they found a job and co -religionists, whom they met for religious conversations.

On May 30, employees of the Magadan FSB came to Petrov.

They took him, and I did not see my husband anymore.

- It began at about 10 pm and ended only at 4 in the morning. - says Tatyana Petrova . - I did not see how everything happened, I was in the kitchen, I heard that my husband went to open the door. From behind the door, the woman introduced herself as an employee of the "electric networks", said that she needed to take the meter's readings. When the husband opened the door, there was a noise, as if a whole crowd of people burst. I was afraid to go out. I just had a shock, I stood like dug in the kitchen. I heard loud sounds - my husband was thrown to the floor, they began to ask him: "Are you Petrov?" - And he could not even answer, because, apparently, he was twisted like that, he only croaked: "Yes, I am Petrov." Then they took him, and I did not see my husband anymore.

- That is, he was immediately detained ?

- He brought it to the IVS ( temporary detention center. - SR ), and after the trial, which appointed the preventive measure - the content of the detention, Konstantin was transferred to the pre -trial detention center. As far as I understood, he was charged with the first part of Article 282 (" excitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity on the grounds of gender, race, nationality, attitude to religion ."- SR ).

“ They gave you some decisions, protocol?”

- I received a copy of the search protocol, it was indicated that my husband was charged with this article. As far as I understood, he is accused of organizing a religious meeting that took place in one of the hotels of Magadan, where we rented a room. As is usually at such meetings, we discussed the Bible. This is the crime of which the husband is accused.

The representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses , Yaroslav Sivulsky, said that the searches that have passed throughout the country, from Magadan to Ivanovo, are performed according to one scenario.

- It always happens in the evening or at night, when people sleep, and the effect of surprise is triggered. Or special forces know in advance the places where small meetings of friends are held, literally 3-5 people. Apparently, their phones are heard, or external observation is carried out behind them. But this is always a dark time of the day, when people returned from work, gathered to read the Bible together, and here the special forces jump over the fences, hack the doors, without even trying to knock, or somehow spectacularly penetrate the room. There is a video - in Yetube, on other sites, they themselves lay out how they do it.

According to human rights activists, in total, during the FSB special operations in different cities of Russia, 17 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses community were detained.

On May 10, the court in Vladivostok arrested for two months a follower of Jehovah's Witnesses Valentin Osadchuk, accused of participating in an extremist organization. On May 23, the Birobidzhansky district court for almost two months arrested a 55-year-old local resident on suspicion of organizing the activities of the extremist religious association of Jehovah's Witnesses. On a similar charges of Orel, a citizen of Dennis Kristensen, who has been in a pre -trial detention center since May 25, 2017, was taken into custody. On July 21, 2017, the Memorial human rights center recognized him as political prisoner . Tomich Sergey Klimov was detained on June 3. A criminal case was opened under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Organization of the activities of an extremist organization." The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment for a term of six to 10 years.

“In the vast majority of cases, the detainees inexorably fall into a pre -trial detention center for two months, then four and so on,” says Yaroslav Sivulsky . -Although recently in Birobidzhan, unexpectedly for everyone, the Court of Appeal released our co-religionist Alam Aliyev from custody. The judge even made some remark to law enforcement officers. Such an indicative case is not clear how it happened, but somehow it happened.

The case in Birobidzhan is the only one throughout the country when Jehovah's detained witness was released. In other cases, the courts approve of preventive measures, which are insisted by the prosecutor's office and law enforcement agencies. Therefore, the lawyers of the detainees, without counting on Russian justice, file complaints with the European Court of Human Rights.

In May, with a statement on the situation around the Jehovah witnesses, the European Union made . The statement states that "the European Union is deeply concerned about recent reports on the strengthening of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia by the state, including police raids for private houses, unreasonable detentions and intimidation."

On June 7, Tatyana Petrova signed a collective letter in which the wives of the Jehovists arrested for faith turned to the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia: “An open letter to you is our scream of despair. People who are dear to us - husbands, fathers of our children, peaceful, honest and responsive people - were thrown behind bars on the fact that we read with us, with our children and friends The commandments of the Bible prayed to God, whose name is written in the Bible as Jehovah. "

- Tatyana, how did the life of the community and its participants change with the start of persecution of your organization last year?

-Firstly, now we are deprived of the opportunity to gather in buildings intended for worshiping God ( we are talking about the so-called "halls of the kingdom." - SR ). We cannot do this openly. Secondly, we feel the hostile attitude of people when we talk about God, whose name is Jehovah.

- What is this manifested in?

They tell us: "You are a sect," "you have to put you all for a long time." And for what?

- They tell us: "You are a sect," "you have to put you all for a long time." And for what? According to the Bible, Jesus Christ instructed every Christian to bear good news of salvation, that heaven on earth would come when people would live forever and happily. Me and my husband, we believe in this and feel the motivation to speak, tell people about this good news.

The next court, as the witnesses of Jehovah's witnesses detained in the Magadan, took place on June 14. The court left a preventive measure to all three prisoners without changes - detention for a period of 2 months.

For reference: the first persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR began in the spring of 1951. Then, during the special operation of the MGB under the code name " North ", more than three thousand families were deported to Siberia. Partially rehabilitated in 1965, Jehovah's witnesses, however, did not receive permission to leave the exile. Complete rehabilitation and recognition by the victims of political repression occurred only in 1996.