In Kostroma, the court returned the case against the Jehovah's Witnesses spouses to the prosecutor's office

On September 25, the Sverdlovsk District Court of Kostroma returned the criminal case against the spouses Valeria and Sergei Raiman to the Kostroma prosecutor's office. They are accused of organizing and participating in the local religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses, which is recognized as extremist (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). This is reported on the website of this religious organization.

The court concluded that the wording of the indictment was vague and did not confirm that the Raymans were founders or members of a banned local religious organization in Kostroma and that they held meetings of the religious organization.

The court stated that “in this case there is a legal right to practice the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which was not prohibited,” and referred the case to the prosecutor’s office. The Raiman couple remain under recognizance not to leave.

• On July 25, 2018, a series of searches took place in Kostroma near Jehovah’s Witnesses. Armed special forces broke down the door to their apartment. The Rayman couple were detained. After which Valeria Raiman was arrested for 2 days, then a ban on certain actions was imposed on her for about six months. Sergei Raiman was arrested for two months, followed by a month of house arrest and three months of a ban on certain activities.
• On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” as an extremist organization, liquidated it and banned its activities in Russia. In August, all Jehovah's Witnesses organizations were added to the list of prohibited organizations. After this, a stream of criminal cases against representatives of the confession began. In February 2019, the court handed down its first sentence with real imprisonment - Danish citizen Dennis Christensen was sentenced to six years in prison, his complaint was accepted for consideration by the ECHR.