Jehovah's Witnesses spoke about the torture of a believer during interrogation

Jehovah's Witnesses spoke about the torture of fellow believer Alexander Korol in the Voronezh region after his arrest on July 13. The religious organization posted information about this on its website.

The king was detained after a search of his house. He was taken to the building of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Voronezh region and interrogated there several times. During interrogations, as Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia write, the King was strangled with a plastic bag and beaten.

The religious organization reports that during the first interrogation, they tried to convince the King to incriminate himself and threatened to use torture. The believer refused to give evidence beneficial to the investigation, and then, Jehovah's Witnesses report, one of the operatives put a plastic bag over his head and began to tighten it around his neck.

Under torture, the believer was asked which of Jehovah's Witnesses was an elder. At the same time, he was also hit in the face several times. According to Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, the torture lasted about 15 minutes until the bag broke.

The security forces, as believers write on their website, also threatened to use needles when interrogating the King. However, they did not do this. The Jehovah's Witness was taken for questioning to another address and interrogated again.

In the evening of the same day, the King was taken to the police department in the Khokholsky district of the Voronezh region, and then placed in a temporary detention center for 48 hours. On the evening of July 15, he was released without any charges or suspicions being brought.

It is unknown whether a criminal case has been opened against the King. The believer himself is currently planning to appeal the illegal actions of the security forces.

• The website “Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia” stated that the Investigative Committee conducted on July 14 in Voronezh the largest special operation in the history of persecution of representatives of this religious movement in the country. In the cities and villages of the region, security forces conducted 110 searches and opened two criminal cases for organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) against ten believers. On July 15, a court in Voronezhsent 10 Jehovah's Witnesses into custody.
• In April 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization and banned its activities throughout the country. In August, all communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were added to the list of prohibited ones.
• OVD-Info talked about the life of followers of Jehovah's Witnesses under the ban and how they are persecuted.