Vladimir region: new criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses

Two believers were taken into custody.

On July 12, 2021, it became known that in the Vladimir region, criminal cases were initiated against followers of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization).

The suspects were 48-year-old Aleksey Kupriyanov from the city of Kovrov and 45-year-old Roman Adestov from the village of Ivanovo. On July 8, they were detained and interrogated, and the next day, by the decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Vladimir, they were taken into custody. On November 19, 2021, Kupriyanov was transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest, and on November 25, the same decision was made with respect to Adestov.

According to investigators, Kupriyanov "took part in religious meetings" and "actively participated in collecting information on the amount of work done to introduce the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses to the civilian masses."

The accusation of Jehovah's Witnesses in organizing the activities of an extremist organization is due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia decided to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist. We believe that this decision, which entailed 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

• There are new prisoners of conscience in the Vladimir Region: two more Jehovah's Witnesses have been sent to a pre-trial detention center. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2021. July 12.
• The case of Kupriyanov in Kovrov. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. November 24, 2021
• The court transferred Roman Adestov, a believer from Kovrov, under house arrest. He spent 4.5 months behind bars. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. November 29, 2021