Jehovah's Witnesses spoke about beating a believer with the butt of a machine gun during a search in Moscow

During searches in Moscow, security forces hit 49-year-old Jehovah's Witness Vardan Zakarian on the head with the butt of a machine gun. This was reported on the website of the religious organization.

According to believers, Zakaryan opened the door for security forces early in the morning of November 24 during a search. Immediately, one of the policemen “knocked him down” with the butt of a machine gun, Jehovah’s Witnesses specify. The victim’s wife was “screamed and ordered to lie down.”

“I was asked to give my dad some help. Entering the living room, I saw a 10-centimeter blood stain on the floor, and dad lying on the sofa with a fresh bloody wound on his forehead. He was pale and trembling all over,” the organization reports the words of the believer’s daughter.

After the searches, Zakarian could not be found for several days; it later turned out that he was hospitalized “with fresh abrasions on his face.” At the hospital he was diagnosed, representatives of the confession specify.

Today, November 30, the Presnensky District Court sent the believer under house arrest. The organization writes that Zakarian filed a complaint against the security forces with the prosecutor's office.

On November 24, Moscow Jehovah's Witnesses were searched in connection with the creation of an extremist organization, recruitment and participation in such an organization (parts 1, 1.1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). Believers complained of rough detentions, threats and insults from security forces. The Investigative Committee also reported on investigative actions in 20 regions.

In 2017, the Supreme Court recognized Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization and banned its work in Russia. After this, hundreds of believers became involved in criminal cases.