Case History
In November 2020, a massive special operation took place in Moscow — searches in 22 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Vardan Zakaryan was hospitalized due to injuries inflicted by the law enforcement officers. He, as well as Vitaliy Komarov, Yuriy Chernyshev, Ivan Chaykovskiy and Sergey Shatalov were placed in a temporary detention facility. They were charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization, and Zakaryan was charged with involving others in it. It is worth noting that in 2010 through the ECHR Chaykovskiy, obtained compensation for the violation of his rights due to the illegal liquidation of the Moscow Community of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the winter of 2022 the case went to court. The charges were based on the testimony of FSB agent “Makarov”, who feigned an interest in the Bible. In March 2023, the court sentenced Chaykovskiy, Komarov, Chernyshev and Shatalov to 6 years and 3 months, and Zakaryan to 4 years and 3 months in a penal colony. The courts of appeals and cassation upheld this decision. Vardan Zakaryan was released in October 2025.