Jehovah's Witness detained in Krasnoyarsk

Andrey Stupnikov, 44, was detained at the airport. The next day he was arrested.

On July 3, 2018, at the Yemelyanovo airport, officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Krasnoyarsk Territory detained 44-year-old Andrey Stupnikov, a follower of Jehovah's Witnesses. The next day, by decision of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Krasnoyarsk, Stupnikov was arrested for two months, until September 2. The court justified the choice of the measure of restraint by the fact that Stupnikov was going to a congress of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany, where he could ask for asylum.

Stupnikov became a defendant in a new criminal case initiated under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization).

In April 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia decided to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist. was rejected In July , an appeal against this decision , after which, in August, the organizations were included in the list of extremist ones. We believe that this decision, as well as the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in general, had no legal basis, and we consider it as a manifestation of religious discrimination.

The court extended Stupnikov's preventive measure several times, but in 2019 he was placed under house arrest. On July 2, 2019, in Krasnoyarsk, the Leninsky District Court replaced Stupnikov’s preventive measure with a ban on certain actions, namely the use of mail and the Internet, as well as communication with witnesses interrogated in his criminal case.

Sources

• A believer was arrested at the Krasnoyarsk airport. Message from the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses. 2018. July 3.
• In Krasnoyarsk, a believer was sent to a pre-trial detention center for 2 months. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses, July 5, 2018.
• Krasnoyarsk believer released from house arrest. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses, July 3, 2019.