In Belgorod, employees of Center “E” installed a hidden camera in the apartment of spouses suspected of being Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In Belgorod, Center E employees installed a hidden camera for nine months in the one-room apartment of a couple who were followers of the banned religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses, reports , citing lawyer Anton Omelchenko. Dozhd

“Everything is actually written down in the case materials: they are watching TV, they somehow spoke negatively about the authorities - they immediately make a note “Scolded the authorities.” Everything is taken down in shorthand. This is also a shock for me,” said Omelchenko.

According to the lawyer, this is not the first time that law enforcement officers have installed hidden cameras in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses and filmed them praying. In particular, in Belgorod, the court three times gave Center “E” permission to film with a hidden camera.

Omelchenko clarified that the couple, who had been watched by security forces for almost a year, have now left Russia.

Mass searches of Jehovah's Witnesses in Belgorod became known in February. Security forces searched 16 apartments and took their residents to the police, where they collected fingerprints. Two people were detained.

In 2017, the Supreme Court declared the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses and about four hundred regional communities an extremist organization and banned it. Since the spring of this year, security forces have been conducting searches and arresting followers of the organization from Omsk , Krasnoyarsk , Birobidzhan , Orenburg , Kemerovo , Penza , Yelizovo and other cities.

At the end of August, more than 200 followers of this religious movement sought asylum in Finland.