Photo: Invasion of believers in Polyarny (2018)

Photo: Invasion of believers in Polyarny (2018)

Photo: Invasion of believers in Polyarny (2018)

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

In the Amur region, a criminal case for faith was initiated, searches were carried out

Amur Region

From 7:00 a.m. on July 20, 2018, at least three homes of citizens believed to be Jehovah's Witnesses were searched in Blagoveshchensk. One of them was charged under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of an extremist organization).

The case is being conducted by the FSB of Russia for the Amur Region, investigator I. Beloglazov. According to the investigator, it became known that as part of the operational preparation of this case, a listening device was installed in the apartment of a married couple for almost six months, as a result, the investigation has a number of details of the personal life of the spouses. Such an unceremonious invasion of privacy, violation of the right to inviolability of the home, personal and family secrets, became possible as part of the brutal persecution unleashed against Jehovah's Witnesses. Law enforcement officers across the country falsely interpret compliance with common religious precepts, such as praying together or reading the Bible, as participation in the activities of an extremist organization. All this was a direct consequence of a miscarriage of justice made by the Supreme Court of Russia and personally by Judge Yuri Ivanenko.

Searches in the homes of peaceful Blagoveshchensk residents were sanctioned by Oleg Filatov, a judge of the Blagoveshchensk City Court of the Amur Region. Similar criminal cases have been initiated in other Far Eastern regions - in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories, in the Magadan and Jewish Autonomous Regions, and also in Yakutia.

Update. According to updated data, on July 20, 2018, 7 searches were conducted in the apartments of believers in Blagoveshchensk.

Case of Berchuk and Golik in Blagoveshchensk

Case History
The FSB opened a criminal case in which Aleksey Berchuk and Dmitry Golik were convicted in the summer of 2018. This was preceded by covert video surveillance of the Golikov family and recording of meetings for worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Blagoveshchensk. Searches as part of the case affected 7 families of believers. Berchuk learned about the investigation against him only in January 2019, when he was detained at a Moscow airport and taken to Blagoveshchensk. The court of first instance announced the verdict in June 2021: Golik - seven years in prison, and Berchuk - eight years (a record cruel punishment at that time). Three months later, the appeal reduced Golik’s term of imprisonment by 10 months. In March of the following year, the court assigned Dmitriy Golik more lenient conditions of serving his sentence and transferred him to a penal colony, from where he was released on parole in April 2025.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Amur Region
Locality:
Blagoveshchensk
Suspected of:
according to the investigation he participated in religious services, which is interpreted as participation in the activity of an extremist organisation
Court case number:
11807100001000051
Initiated:
June 22, 2018
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
FSB Directorate of Russia for the Amur Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-39/2021 (1-333/2020)
Court of First Instance:
Blagoveshchensk City Court of the Amur Region
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Tatyana Studilko
Case History
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