A case against Jehovah's Witnesses was brought to court in Crimea

Alexander Dubovenko and Alexander Litvinyuk are charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

On April 1, 2022, it became known that the Armenian City Court of the Republic of Crimea received a case against Jehovah's Witnesses Alexander Dubovenko and Alexander Litvinyuk, accused under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). The case against Dubovenko and Litvinyuk was initiated in August 2021. Then the houses of eight residents of Armyansk were searched. Dubovenko and Litvinyuk were placed under house arrest.

It is known that the Litvinyuk case was initiated on the basis of materials received from the FSB border department. According to investigators, he used Zoom to recruit new members to the banned organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The accusation of Jehovah's Witnesses of involvement in 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

• Hearings on a criminal case for faith against Alexander Litvinyuk and Alexander Dubovenko begin in Crimea. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2022. April 1st.