In St. Petersburg, the head of the Church of Scientology was changed to house arrest.

On April 8, in St. Petersburg, the court changed the preventive measure for the head of the local Church of Scientology, Ivan Matsitsky, to house arrest. Interfax-Religion reports this.

The St. Petersburg City Court overturned the decision of the Nevsky District Court, which in March 2021 sent the man to a pre-trial detention center. Before this, Matsitsky was prohibited from certain actions, and from June 2017 to November 2019 he was under arrest.

The head of the church is accused of inciting hatred (clause “c” of Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code), creating an extremist community (Part 1 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code) and illegal entrepreneurship (clauses “a” and “b” of Part 2 of Art. 171 CC). The investigation considers conducting paid courses without creating a legal entity to be illegal business activity.

In addition to Matsitsky, one of its leaders Anastasia Terentyeva (under a ban on certain actions), lawyer Konstantia Esaulkova and executive director Galina Shurinova (both under recognizance not to leave) are also involved in the case of the Church of Scientology. Accountant Sahib Aliyev, after pleading guilty in May 2019, was transferred to house arrest from a pre-trial detention center, and later a preventive measure was chosen for him in the form of a ban on certain actions.

• The Memorial Human Rights Center recognized all the defendants as political prisoners.
• The SOVA Information and Analytical Center considers it unlawful to prosecute Scientologists for extremism. “Assertion of one’s own exclusivity is characteristic of any religion, and the persecution of Scientologists and the banning of their literature on this basis are unfounded,” the Owl website says .