In Saratov, on November 16, searches were carried out at at least six addresses of Jehovah's Witnesses, reports . the Jehovah's Witnesses portal
The searches affected at least 13 believers. Security forces came to their home around six in the morning. As a result, they confiscated equipment, personal notes, and postcards. One of Jehovah's Witnesses had his passport taken away.
Two believers - 47-year-old Alexey Vasilyev and 59-year-old Alexey Efremov - were detained, placed in a temporary detention facility, and then under house arrest in the case of participation in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). A criminal case was opened on October 31.
- In 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. All organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were included in the list of prohibited ones, after which a stream of criminal cases against believers began. Rosfinmonitoring has added hundreds of Russian followers of Jehovah's Witnesses to the list of extremists and terrorists. Most of the people on the list are believers between 40 and 60 years old.
- In June, the European Court of Human Rights declared the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses and the subsequent persecution of believers illegal. From the point of view of the ECHR, the decision to liquidate the organization and criminal cases against Jehovah’s Witnesses is based on an overly broad definition of “extremism”, which in Russian legislation “can be applied to absolutely peaceful forms of expression.”