Transbaikalia: torture of Jehovah's Witnesses in Chita

Police officers torture Jehovah's Witnesses in Chita.

On February 14, 2020, it became known that people were being tortured in Chita Jehovah's Witnesses.

According to believers, on February 10, during searches and detentions, law enforcement officers structures in the official vehicle were beaten, strangled and electrocuted Vadim Kutsenko, tying his hands with handcuffs and forcibly closing his eyes. According to him According to him, the police demanded that he confess his guilt and testify against their fellow believers.

Currently V. Kutsenko is in custody. Together with other Jehovah's Witnesses from Chita, he was arrested as part of a criminal investigation under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an organization recognized as extremist).

Recall that the accusation of Jehovah's Witnesses of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization is due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia decided to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist. We believe that this decision, which entailed the mass persecution of believers under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds, and we regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination.

Sources

• In Chita, a believer Vadim Kutsenko reports that the security forces tortured him: they beat him, strangled him and beat him with an electric shock // European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses. February 14, 2020