New Searches at Homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Birobidzhan. Raid Affected Three Local Residents

On October 9, 2025, law enforcement officers came to the homes of three women believers in Birobidzhan. One of them, Elena Shestopalova, 60, is the mother of Vladlena Kukavitsa, who has been on trial for her faith for over a year.

Elena was going to her daughter's trial when her house was searched. It happened at seven in the morning. Her husband, who was ill with SARS, was also in the apartment. Around the same time, searches took place at the homes of two other women, they lasted from one and a half to three hours. One of them was detained at her workplace. Electronic devices, Bibles, and personal records were seized from believers.

It turned out that a few days earlier, criminal cases had been initiated against Yelena Shestopalova, 54-year-old Olga Chebrak and 63-year-old Nataliya Kocheva on suspicion of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. The initiator was FSB investigator Dmitry Yankin, who over the past 5 years has already opened cases against at least 20 Jehovah's Witnesses in Birobidzhan. The search warrant was issued by the same judge who is handling the case of Yelena's daughter - Olga Klyuchikova.

At the moment of writing, the number of Jehovah's Witnesses being prosecuted in Birobidzhan has reached 30.