RUSSIA: Special bimonthly FORB Digest (01-15.07.2021)

13.07.21 – Fifth Jehovah’s Witness convicted in Rostov-on-Don

Full text only in Russian: https://www.kavkaz-uzel.media/articles/365960/

A court in Rostov-on-Don found that Jehovah’s Witness Olga Ganusha is a member of an extremist organization and sentenced her to a two-year suspended prison term. The believer declared that she intends to appeal the sentence.

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13.07.21 – Fifth Jehovah’s Witness convicted in Rostov-on-Don

Link to full text in Russian: https://www.kavkaz-uzel.media/articles/365960/

A court in Rostov-on-Don found that Jehovah’s Witness Olga Ganusha is a member of an extremist organization and sentenced her to a two-year suspended prison term. The believer declared that she intends to appeal the sentence.

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12.07.21 – Road to ban Falun Gong in Russia Continues, U.S. react

On July 8, the Court of Kemerovo ruled against the movement in what may become a crucial case.

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12.07.21 – New prisoners of conscience in the Vladimir region of Russia: Two more Jehovah’s Witnesses sent to detention centers

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/07/121739.html

On July 8, 2021, new criminal cases were filed against Jehovah’s Witnesses living in the Vladimir region. Aleksey Kupriyanov, 48, from Kovrov, and Roman Adestov, 45, from the village of Ivanovo were interrogated and detained. The next day, the Oktyabrskiy district court of Vladimir put them in custody.

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10.07.21 – Direct clash between metropolitan and governor in Ekaterinburg over tsarist pilgrimage

Link to full text in Russian: https://cutt.ly/hmHznxd

On 8 July, Sverdlovsk oblast Governor Evgeny Kuivashev (a member of the Supreme Coucnil of United Russia, typical representative of the Sobianin clan, loyal associate and even, it is said, a relative of the Moscow mayor) forbade the traditional Tsarist Procession, which will be conducted in Ekaterinburg on the anniversary of the murder of Emperor Nicholas II and his family.

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08.07.21 – Searches of Jehovah’s Witnesses took place in the Tver Region. Criminal case is initiated against two believers

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/07/081619.html

On July 6, 2021, it became known about a new criminal case for faith initiated in the city of Konakovo (Tver region) against 61-year-old Alexandr Starikov and 34-year-old Sergey Naumenko. At least 4 searches were carried out, one of them 260 kilometers from Konakovo, in Ivanovo.

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06.07.21 – What happened in Abakan? Details around the sentence that sent a 70-year-old woman and her son to prison for believing in Jehovah

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/07/061554.html

On February 24, 2021, the Abakan City Court convicted 70-year-old Valentina Baranovskaya and her son, Roman. Both are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Following the verdict, they were immediately taken into custody from the courtroom. Sadly, three months later the appeal court upheld the unjust verdict. They were cruelly and inhumanely sentenced to two and six years in prison, respectively.

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06.07.21 – Aleksey Budenchuk released from prison. He is the third resident of Saratov to serve a sentence for believing in God Jehovah

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/07/061401.html

On July 6, 2021, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, convicted for his beliefs, Aleksey Budenchuk, having served his full sentence, left penal colony No. 1 in the city of Orenburg. His family and friends traveled 800 kilometers to meet beloved husband, father and friend.

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05.07.21 – Putin increases attention to state manipulation of religion

Link to full text in Russian: https://cutt.ly/hmHxqNJ

On 2 July 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an ukase approving a new National Security Strategy. It replaces the previous document of the same type, which was adopted in late 2015.

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01.07.21 – 75-year-old Vladimir Suvorov from Chelyabinsk was sentenced to 6-year suspended sentence for faith in Jehovah

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/07/011417.html

On July 1, 2021, Oksana Mitina, a judge of the Metallurgical District Court of Chelyabinsk, found an elderly believer guilty of organizing the activities of a banned organization. She sentenced Vladimir Suvorov to 6 years of conditional imprisonment.

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Further reading about FORB in Russia on HRWF website