In Chita, a detained Jehovah's Witnesses supporter complained of being tortured with a stun gun

In Chita, one of the detained supporters of Jehovah's Witnesses said that after a search he was taken to the forest and tortured with a stun gun to extract a confession.

Lawyer Arthur Ganin told The Insider that on February 10, massive searches were carried out in the houses of Jehovah's Witnesses in Chita and nearby settlements. Three people were detained immediately, and the fourth, Vadim Kutsenko, late in the evening.

Kutsenko told the lawyer that he was put in a UAZ car and driven into the forest. On the way, they beat him in the face and neck, although he immediately said that he had an injury to the cervical spine, they choked him and tortured him with a stun gun.

In the forest, the man was taken out of the car and continued to be beaten, insulted and threatened that they would help him be “released” to the colony. The security forces, presumably employees of the Russian Guard, demanded that Kutsenko give a confession [in the case of extremism] and take all the blame upon himself.

The man refused to incriminate himself, after which he was brought to the investigator. Vadim Kutsenko spoke about the torture, but the investigator did not react to this and sent him, under the escort of the attackers, to a temporary detention center.

Arthur Ganin noted that other detainees were also threatened. One of them was told that they would rape his wife, record it on video and let him watch it.

The Ministry of Justice recognized Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization in March 2017. According to estimates by the Memorial human rights center, in October 2019, 206 supporters of the religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses were under criminal prosecution in Russia. Human rights activists included them in the list of political prisoners.

In December, the Leninsky District Court of Penza sentenced the head of the local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Vladimir Aleshkin, to six years in prison on charges of extremist activity. Another five people received two years of suspended imprisonment for participating in the activities of an extremist organization.