In the Kemerovo region, after a series of searches, a Jehovah's Witness was arrested

On April 2, the Taiga City Court arrested and sent 29-year-old Jehovah's Witness Yuri Usanov to a pre-trial detention center until May 30. He was detained during a series of searches of believers in the city of Taiga, Kemerovo region. The European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses reported this to OVD-Info.

A criminal case was opened against Usanov under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). Three pensioners are witnesses in the case; the houses of two of them and Usanov himself were searched on the morning of April 2.

Usanov’s brother contacted OVD-Info, who said that Yuri was taken from his house under the pretext of drawing up a report on an administrative case. Later, before information appeared from the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, neither relatives nor OVD-Info managed to find out where Usanov was and what he was charged with.

As stated on the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia portal, during the search Yuri Usanov stopped communicating. When his friends arrived at the house, the bars had been removed from his window, the glass was broken, and police officers were outside. On the same day, searches took place at 72-year-old Natalya Kozlova and 65-year-old Zinaida Vasina: the police entered the Taiga residents, posing as neighbors. Electronic devices, Bibles in various translations, personal notes, postcards with the inscriptions “God” and “Jehovah”, bank cards and a Wi-Fi router were confiscated from the women.

After this, both were taken for interrogation to the Investigative Committee. Another woman, 69-year-old Lyudmila Gorovaya, was met by security forces at her house and also interrogated. All three were asked if they knew Usanov, if he offered them money and literature, and if he involved them in any organizations. In addition, believers note in the message, pensioners were threatened that their relatives might have problems with work.

From the case materials it follows that Yuri Usanov allegedly “committed actions of an organizational nature aimed at continuing and resuming the illegal activities of the banned organization “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” in the form of convening meetings with the participation of residents of the city of Taiga.”

Usanov will be kept in pre-trial detention center-4 in Anzhero-Sudzhensk.

On April 16 , Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia reported that believer Yuri Usanov was transferred to pre-trial detention center-1 in Kemerovo to undergo a forensic psychiatric examination.

April 29 It became known that Yuri Usanov was returned from pre-trial detention center-1 in Kemerovo to pre-trial detention center-4 in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, writes Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

• In 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.