Jehovah's Witness arrested in Maykop

One of the founders of the Maykop local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses became a suspect under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

On April 16, 2021, the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Republic of Adygea announced the arrest of a 46-year-old resident of Maykop. He is suspected of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

According to the investigation, since 2002 the suspect was one of the founders of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. Knowing that in 2017 the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 of its structural subdivisions, including the Maykop organization, were recognized as extremist, in 2018, according to the Investigative Committee, it " performed organizational actions to lead and continue its activities " this organization. They allegedly expressed themselves in holding online meetings, coordinating speeches at these meetings and worship services, " ideological indoctrination of the inhabitants of the Republic of Adygea in order to increase the number of followers of this religious extremist organization ." The case was initiated on the materials of the check received from the FSB in the Republic of Adygea.

On April 20, Jehovah's Witnesses reported that searches on April 16 allegedly took place at five addresses. Inver Siyukhov was detained as a suspect. The next day, the Maykop City Court ruled to take him into custody, after which he was taken to SIZO-2 in the village of Tlyustenkhabl. Spouses Mukhamed and Gupsa Shkhalakhovs, as well as two other women, were interrogated as witnesses.

We believe that the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia to ban organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses, which resulted in the mass persecution of believers under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds, and we regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination.

Sources

• Maikop resident detained for organizing activities of an extremist organization // Website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Adygea. 2021. April 16.
• Jehovah's Witnesses are already being persecuted in 65 regions of Russia: mass searches took place in Adygea, and one believer was sent to a pre-trial detention center. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2021. April 20.