Four followers of Jehovah's Witnesses from different cities were transferred to house arrest

Four defendants in cases of participation in the Jehovah's Witnesses organization from different cities were transferred to house arrest. They write about this on the “Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” page on Facebook.

In Penza, on January 14, the court refused to extend the investigator’s detention and transferred 54-year-old Vladimir Alushkin to house arrest. The man was placed in a pre-trial detention center after mass searches of religious followers in July. Then law enforcement officers interrogated 40 people, and opened a criminal case against four.

On January 14, the Khabarovsk Regional Court overturned the decision of the court of first instance to arrest Vitaly Zhuk and Nikolai Polevodov and transferred them to house arrest. Another person involved in this case, Stanislav Kim, is still in jail. The men were detained by 30 riot police in November 2018 during a meeting in a cafe. They are accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and two more women are accused of participating.

In Vladivostok, on January 18, the appellate court decided to transfer Valentin Osadchuk to house arrest. He was arrested in April 2017 on charges of participation in Jehovah's Witnesses.