The appeal court released a Jehovah's Witness, who had previously reported beating, under house arrest

On August 10, the Voronezh Regional Court, in an appeal, decided to release Jehovah's Witness Anatoly Yagupov from the pre-trial detention center and transfer him to house arrest. This was reported on the website of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

Yagupov was arrested as part of a criminal case that the Investigative Committee of the Voronezh Region opened on July 2 under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). On July 13, security forces carried out a special operation of unprecedented scale - searches in 110 houses of believers throughout the region. Ten people were detained on suspicion of committing a crime; on July 14 and 15, they were arrested by the Leninsky District Court of Voronezh.

• Three Jehovah's Witnesses, detained on July 13 in the Voronezh region, reported the use of violence against them during investigative actions: Alexander Bokov and Dmitry Khatyrov were subjected to severe beatings and torture for refusing to give passwords to their mobile phones, Alexander Korol was strangled with a plastic bag during interrogation. Two more - Yuri Galka and Anatoly Yagupov - told their lawyers on July 29 that they were beaten and tortured by security forces, demanding self-incrimination.
• According to information from Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, the Voronezh region is the 56th region of Russia where supporters of the religious movement are prosecuted in criminal cases.
• 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.