Case of Jehovah's Witnesses from Zeya brought to court

Yevgeny Bitusov and Leonid Druzhinin are accused of organizing the activities of a banned community.

On May 12, 2022, the Zeya District Court of the Amur Region received a criminal case against Jehovah's Witnesses Evgeny Bitusov and Leonid Druzhinin, charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization).

Bitusov and Druzhinin were witnesses in the case of fellow believer Konstantin Moiseenko . A criminal case against them was opened on August 10, 2020, it was investigated by the Federal Security Service of the Amur Region. In March 2019 and October 2020, they were searched. On June 1, 2021, the believers were charged under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization). However, on October 8, the investigation reclassified the charge to part 1 of the same article.

Jehovah's Witnesses are accused of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 of their local religious organizations were 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

• Case card No. 1-96/2022 // Zemsky District Court of the Amur Region. 2022. June 9.
• The case of Bitusov and Druzhinin goes to the Zeya District Court of the Amur Region. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2022. June 9.