Four Jehovah's Witnesses were arrested in Sevastopol after mass searches

The Leninsky District Court of Sevastopol arrested until the end of November four Jehovah's Witnesses, detained after mass searches on October 1. This was reported by the Ukrainian publication Graty.

Believers are suspected of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). The court arrested Evgeny Zhukov, Vladimir Maladyka and Vladimir Sakada until November 30, and Igor Shmidt until November 23. The detained Natalya Maladyka was previously released. “Graty” clarifies that she is in the status of a witness.

On October 1, searches were carried out in nine houses of Jehovah's Witnesses in Sevastopol. After them, security forces detained five people: the former head of the religious community Yevgeny Zhukov, Vladimir Maladyka and his wife Natalya, Vladimir Sakad and Igor Shmidt. According to Grat, Yevgeny Zhukov was the head of the Sevastopol community of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was liquidated in May 2017, after 20 years of existence.

• 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. Later, all organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were added to the list of prohibited ones. After this, a stream of criminal cases against representatives of the confession began.
• In February 2020, Rosfinmonitoring added more than two hundred Russian followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses religion to the list of extremists and terrorists. Most of the people on the list are believers between 40 and 50 years old who are under investigation or sentenced to various punishments under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization or participation in the activities of an extremist organization).
• According to Federal Law No. 114-FZ “On Combating Extremist Activities”, extremism is a violent change in the constitutional order, violation of the territorial integrity of the state, justification of terrorism, propaganda of social inequality depending on various characteristics and discrimination, committing hate crimes, propaganda of Nazism, as well as calls for such activities and their preparation.