In Chelyabinsk on October 22, two families of Jehovah's Witnesses were searched in a criminal case of extremism. This was reported on a website covering the persecution of believers.

Operational actions were carried out on 53-year-old Vadim Gizatulin and 52-year-old Irina Mikhailenko. Electronic devices and notebooks were confiscated from them, and then the believers and their relatives were taken to the Investigative Committee for interrogation. They did not search the home of 59-year-old Olga Zhelavskaya, since she was in the hospital after COVID-19 and a stroke.

Mikhailenko, Zhelavskaya and Gizatulin are considered suspects in the case of participation in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). It is not known whether they were given a preventive measure.

Searches of believers were repeated. Previously, they were brought in as witnesses in the criminal case of Vladimir and Valentina Suvorov, who were sentenced to six years and two years probation.

In 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” as an extremist organization and banned its activities throughout the country. In August of the same year, all communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were added to the list of prohibited ones. After this, a stream of criminal cases began against representatives of the confession - in most cases these are believers from 40 to 70 years old. They are under investigation or sentenced to various punishments under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization or participation in the activities of an extremist organization).

Jehovah's Witnesses were searched in Chelyabinsk