One of the 4 taken into custody in Naberezhnye Chelny will be transferred to house arrest

Ilham Karimov is to be placed under house arrest after 160 days spent in a pre-trial detention center in Chistopol, Tatarstan. This was ordered on November 2, 2018 by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan, canceling the decision of the Naberezhnye Chelny City Court, which in October extended the believer's detention until December 25, 2018. Despite the fact that the ruling of a higher court was issued 6 days ago, Ilham Karimov has not yet left the pre-trial detention center due to the slowness of the document flow.

The case against Ilham Karimov, as well as Vladimir Myakushin, Konstantin Matrashov and Aidar Yulmetyev was initiated under Parts 1, 1.1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The prosecution claims that these citizens worshipped Jehovah God, and interprets this not as an exercise of their constitutional right to freedom of religion, but as "organization", "participation" and "involvement in the activities of an extremist organization" (with reference to the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to liquidate all 396 registered organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses).

Meanwhile, the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights is sounding the alarm: "Accusations of citizens that they read the Bible together and pray to God are interpreted as "continuation of the activities of an extremist organization." The Council considers that such an interpretation is not consistent with the legal position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. There is a contradiction between the declared position of the Government of the Russian Federation and law enforcement practice. This cannot but cause concern, since criminal prosecutions and arrests have become systemic."