22:34, 12 February 2024

Believer from Karachay-Cherkessia suspected of extremism

The criminal code. Photo by Valentina Mischnenko / Yugopolis

A female resident of the village of Zelenchukskaya, who attended gatherings of Jehovah’s Witnesses*, is suspected of participating in the activities of the extremist organization, investigators report.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on April 20, 2017, at a request of the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia pronounced the decision to ban all organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses* in the country as extremist. The “Administrative Centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia”* and its 365 branches were banned, as reported the “Caucasian Knot” in its information bulletin “Jehovah’s Witnesses*: extremists or victims of lawlessness?”.

The 40-year-old female resident of the village of Zelenchukskaya has been involved as a suspect in the criminal case under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of an extremist organization), reports the Investigating Department for Karachay-Cherkessia of the investigating Committee of the Russian federation (ICRF).

According to the investigators’ version, the woman, being aware of the ban on religious organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses, “voluntarily took part in the mentioned banned organization.”

“The defendant actively participated in the activities of the illegal community by studying and promoting extremist literature. She maintained contacts with other members of the organization and attended collective religious services and performances,” reports the official website of the ICRF’s Investigating Department for Karachay-Cherkessia.

The believer was detained “thanks to the well-planned joint work of investigators from the regional investigating department and border guards of the Russian FSB Border Guard Department for the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR),” the ICRF’s report notes.

A huge responsibility for the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses* in Russia lies with those who disseminate false information about them, based on fabrications or deliberate lies, “against which, it seems, even those whose decisions should be based on facts, including officers of the law enforcement bodies, have no immunity,” Yaroslav Sivulsky, the spokesperson for the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses, told the “Caucasian Knot” in January.

*396 Russian organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses are recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia are banned by court’s decision.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 12, 2024 at 02:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot