A Jehovah's Witness from Vlasikha near Moscow has had his criminal charges changed

Jehovah's Witness from the town of Vlasikha near Moscow, Sergei Ohanyan, has had his charges changed. The website “Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia” reports this.

The article on involvement in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1.1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) was excluded from the charge. Now Ohanyan is charged only with articles on organizing the activities of such an organization and participating in it (part 1 and part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

• Sergei Ohanyan was detained on June 2, 2020 after a search that began at 6 am. Electronic devices, bank cards, personal notes and greeting cards were confiscated from him. That day, searches took place in four more houses of believers in the village of Vlasikha in the Moscow region. Ohanyan was sent to a temporary detention center (IVS) for three days before the trial. He was then under house arrest for almost ten months. At the end of March 2021, the investigator softened the preventive measure for Ohanyan - he ordered a written undertaking not to leave the place and proper behavior.
• In April 2020, six criminal cases were opened against Jehovah's Witnesses in the Moscow region. Stepan Adamov from Chekhov is suspected of participating in an extremist organization. The decision to initiate the case states that he “interpreted the Bible and read a prayer to Jehovah God, explaining the religious concepts of the religious movement of the faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses, giving examples from life.” Five residents of Podolsk are accused of similar charges. Initially, one of them was in a pre-trial detention center, the rest were under house arrest.
• On April 20, 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. In August, all Jehovah's Witnesses organizations were added to the list of prohibited organizations. After this, a stream of criminal cases against representatives of the confession began.