The court in Moscow arrested two followers of Jehovah's Witnesses

The Savelovsky District Court of Moscow arrested the followers of Jehovah's Witnesses Alexander Serebryakov and Yuri Temirbulatov for participating in an extremist organization. This was reported by Interfax with reference to the press service of the court.

This happened after on February 10, searches were carried out in the religious cell in the north of Moscow. On that day, the Investigative Committee published an appropriate video, which shows how the police burst into the apartment to one of the alleged participants in the religious organization and order him to lie on the floor.

In turn, the Izvestia newspaper demonstrated shots with a man who was brought out in handcuffs.

According to the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, the police beat the detainees and tied their hands with plastic cable screeds. Later, the family of one of the believers said that after the searches they had a large amount of savings. The names of people in question are not revealed.

The searches took place in 16 apartments, where, according to law enforcement officers, believers, after the ban on the organization in 2017, gathered to study religious literature and held virtual meetings. According to the results of the events, investigators announced the detention of organizers and participants in Jehovah's witnesses.

As reported, on February 10, the court in the Krasnodar Territory sentenced to 7.5 years the colony of a 63-year-old follower of Jehovah's Witnesses Alexander Ivshin for participating in a prohibited religious organization.

In 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the church with an extremist organization and banned its activities in the country. In December 2018, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with members of the Presidential Council of Human Rights, called the recognition of Jehovists as extremists "nonsense", saying that they are "also Christians" and there is nothing to persecute them. Nevertheless, according to the website of Jehovah's Witnesses, at the beginning of November 2020, the number of believers accused of extremism exceeded 400. Many of the detainees declared torture.