Permitted literature is not returned to Jehovah's Witnesses detained in Dagestan

Until now, the Jehovah's Witnesses, detained by the FSB on March 3 in Khasavyurt, cannot get back their literature, which had been recognized by the Bryansk examination as non-extremist, and believers' personal records; therefore, they filed an application to the prosecutor's office. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Grigoriy Martynov from the press service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

"The victims plan to send the application right now. According to their version, they were given back all their things, except for literature and some personal records. The records were withdrawn from a notebook, scanned, but not returned. They also said that the wife of Ramazan Magometov, 63, was highly shocked by disappearance of her husband. Everything she knew was an SMS from Komlyakov that they had been detained and brought to the FSB department," said Mr Martynov.

According to his story, when the woman had called to the FSB station, they answered that the detainees were not there. "They were asked to give explanations on what they had been doing in the house where they were detained; probably, on suspicion of extremist activity," Mr Martynov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He also specified that at detention absolutely all their literature was taken away from the believers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 3 in Khasavyurt two Jehovah's Witnesses were detained by local FSB agents; then, after more than 7 hours of interrogation and confiscation of literature, they were released.

An employee of the press service of the FSB of Dagestan, who refused to name himself, has explained that on March 3 the Jehovah's Witnesses "were just invited to the district division for a talk" after a telephone call arrived that "certain people were visiting houses and disseminating literature."

Grigoriy Martynov also said that data of examination outcomes for the presence of attributes of extremism in publications of Jehovah's Witnesses differ, and the latest data evidence the absence of illegal elements in the organization's literature.

He also said that one of these days the press service of the "Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" received a letter from Anya Bazarova, a schoolgirls of the 8th form of School 12 of Stary Oskol (Belgorod Region), in which she wrote: "On February 9, 2010, at a lesson of Orthodox culture a film about Jehovah's Witnesses was demonstrated. I don't attend these lessons on my religious beliefs, and I learnt about the film from my schoolmates. The film stated and showed that Jehovah's Witnesses killed people," wrote the schoolgirl.

This is not the first case, when in the Belgorod Region the inter-religious enmity is planted at schools. Thus, the teacher of the subject "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" and a deputy director for educational work of the Bekhteev School, Korochan District, said that they had been instructed to acquaint all the children with the content of the leaflet-poster "Jehovah's Witnesses! Who are you, gentlemen?" containing negative information about adherents of this religion. These posters have been hung out in all the schools of the whole district.

Now, the circumstances of this leaflet are checked by the centre for counteracting extremism of the UVD (Interior Department) of the Belgorod Region.

These events are sharply divergent from the words of Andrei Kuraev, chairman of the editorial board of the textbook on "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture", who had declared the principle: "You may state your beliefs, but you should not be critical to anybody; never say that our faith is better than the neighbouring one," Grigoriy Martynov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.