Photo: Special forces breaking down the door to the apartment of believers (Polyarny, April 18, 2018)

Photo: Special forces breaking down the door to the apartment of believers (Polyarny, April 18, 2018)

Photo: Special forces breaking down the door to the apartment of believers (Polyarny, April 18, 2018)

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

Mass searches of believers in Magadan

Magadan Region

The morning of March 20, 2019, for Jehovah's Witnesses in Magadan began with an invasion of their homes by FSB officers. Searches were carried out in at least 4 houses of believers, but there are suspicions that searches were carried out in another 5 houses, and their residents were taken to the FSB for interrogations. According to law enforcement officers, 9 new criminal cases have been initiated in the city for believing in God.

During the searches, all electronic devices were seized from citizens: tablets, smartphones, laptops, cameras, all memory cards and flash drives, as well as notebooks and other personal belongings. The search in the Solntsev family took place in the presence of their 9-year-old child. Nothing is known about the new arrests.

Earlier, on May 30, 2018, a criminal case was opened in the city and 4 believers were sent to jail for several months. Now all four are under house arrest.

Law enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation, as well as international organizations - the European Union External Action Service, observers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - drew attention to this problem. Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with extremism and insist on their complete innocence. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that the decisions of the Russian courts on the liquidation and prohibition of organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually."

Update. On April 9, 2019, it became known that 9 criminal cases initiated against 3 men and 6 women were merged by the investigation into one proceeding and attached to the case of Puida and others.

The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan

Case History
After a series of searches in Magadan in May 2018, Konstantin Petrov, Yevgeniy Zyablov and Sergey Yerkin were placed in a pretrial detention center. On the same day in Khabarovsk, the home of Ivan Puyda was searched. He was arrested and taken 1,600 km to a pretrial detention center in Magadan. The believers spent 2 to 4 months behind bars, and then ended up under house arrest. In March 2019, the FSB conducted another series of searches. The number of defendants in the case has reached 13, including 6 women and elderly. The investigator deemed holding peaceful meetings for worship as organizing, participating in and financing the activity of an extremist organization. In almost 4 years of investigation, the case materials against the 13 believers has grown to 66 volumes. The case went to court in March 2022. At the hearings, it became clear that the case was based on the testimony of a secret witness – an FSB informant who made covert recordings of peaceful meetings for worship. In March 2024, the believers were given suspended sentences ranging from 3 to 7 years, and the court of appeal later upheld this verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Agadzhanov
Sergey
Asatryan
Lyubov
Dergacheva
Galina
Yerkin
Sergey
Kardakova
Inna
Khvostova
Irina
Pechko
Galina
Petrov
Konstantin
Puyda
Ivan
Revyakin
Viktor
Solntsev
Mikhail
Solntseva
Oksana
Zyablov
Yevgeniy

Criminal case

Region:
Magadan Region
Locality:
Magadan
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, conducted together with others religious meetings for worship, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation”
Court case number:
11807440001000013
Initiated:
May 30, 2018
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Second Investigative Division of the Third Department for Investigating Especially Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Irkutsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2), 282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1–6/2024 (1-12/2023, 1-220/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Magadan City Court of the Magadan Region
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Tatyana Belayeva
Case History
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