31.07.20 – Two separate criminal charges were filed against a Sakhalin-based believer based on the same subpart of the legal code
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/23.html
Two criminal cases were brought against Vyacheslav Ivanov from the town of Nevelsk under the same part of the “extremist” article (part 2 of article 282.2). Two large law enforcement agencies use serious resources to prosecute a civilian for believing in God and talking about the Bible.
31.07.20 – Jehovah’s Witnesses repeatedly tried for same offenses
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.zaprava.ru/na-saxaline-v-otnoshenii-svidetelya-iegovy-fsb-i-mvd-zaveli-ugolovnoe-delo-po-odnoj-i-toj-zhe-state/
Two criminal cases on one and the same extremism article (part 2 of article 282.2 of the CC of RF—participation in an extremist association) were opened against a resident of the city of Nevelska (Sakhalin), Viacheslav Ivanov.
29.07.20 – Largest raid on Jehovah’s Witnesses leads to police brutality
Link to full text in Russian: https://theins.ru/news/svidetel-iegovy-iz-voronezha-rasskazal-o-pytkah-i-izdevatelstvah-vo-vremya-doprosa
A Jehovah’s Witness from Voronezh, Alexander Korol, described torture and abuse on the part of personnel of the MVD [Ministry of Internal Affairs] during interrogation. This is reported on the website Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
29.07.20 – A raid on Solikamsk believers. After the interrogations, three men were placed in a detention facility
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/22.html
On July 28, 2020, law enforcers searched three addresses in Solikamsk. Five citizens of Russia, including women, were taken to the Investigative Committee building. After the interrogations, two believers were detained, as well as the husband of a local woman who does not share his wife’s religious views. The news is being supplemented.
29.07.20 – “They placed a bag over my head, strangled and beat me.” A Voronezh believer tells about being tortured after being detained
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/21.html
Aleksandr Korol, 29, who was detained during a mass raid on Jehovah’s Witnesses on July 13, was tortured during interrogation, demanding to identify his fellow believers: he was strangled with a plastic bag and beaten.
28.07.20 – Jehovah’s Witness fined instead of imprisoned
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.ivanovonews.ru/news/1034040/
In the city of Furmanov of Ivanovo oblast, a sentence was pronounced on an adherent of the religious organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is considered in Russia to be extremist. The believer was accused of organizing a forbidden religious association.
28.07.20 – Yevgeny Spirin from Furmanov is sentenced to a heavy fine for peaceful meetings with fellow believers.
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/20.html
On July 28, 2020, the Furmanov City Court sentenced 34-year-old Yevgeniy Spirin a fine of 700,000 rubles, ruling that conversations with fellow-worshippers about God constitute extremism.
28.07.20 – Jehovah’s Witness in Russia convicted of extremism, concern over crackdown
A court in Russia has convicted and fined a Jehovah’s Witnesses follower amid growing global concern over a campaign of persecution in the country against adherents of the religion.
27.07.20 – About three billion rubles donated annually for construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow
Moscow, July 27, Interfax – Sponsors and parishioners donate about three billion rubles ($43 million) every year for the construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow, the State Duma deputy, curator of new churches’ building in the capital Vladimir Resin said.
25.07.20 – Four days after his release from the special punishment cell, the prison administration sent Dennis Christensen back to the special punishment cell again
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/18.html
After Christensen’s release from the punishment cell (SHIZO), where he stayed for 15 days on unjustified charges, the administration of the colony brought him there again. The reason was the believer’s refusal to work there, which is detrimental to his health.
25.07.20 – Law enforcement forces from Surgut searched the home of Igor Petrov for the second time after his refusal to collect the items seized 1.5 years ago
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/19.html
July 23, 2020 in Surgut was repeated search of the apartment of Igor Petrov, which since February 2019 is under investigation. A year and a half ago, in the course of a large-scale raid, law enforcement officers seized things from the believer.
16.07.20 – Two believers beaten and ten sent to prison in the largest raid on Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city of Voronezh
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2020/07/17.html
More than 110 searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses on July 13, 2020. The homes are located across seven residential communities in the City of Voronezh region. At least two believers reported severe beatings for refusing to provide smartphone passwords.
09.07.20 – Prosecutor asks for longest term yet for Jehovah’s Witness
On 9 July 2020, the prosecutor demanded sentencing 34-year-old Evgeny Spirin to seven years in a penal colony, concluding without rational basis that religious conversations are extremism. Evgeny does not acknowledge himself to be guilty. On 14 July he will possibly speak out with his final word. Then the Furmanov city court may issue a verdict.
06.07.20 – Russian protestants seek removal of legal impediment to their activity
Link to full text in Russian: http://www.sclj.ru/news/detail.php?SECTION_ID=524&ELEMENT_ID=8278
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has accepted for consideration an appeal filed by lawyers of the Slavic Legal Center in the interests of the religious organization The Word of Life Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals) of Dolgoprudnyi.
02.07.20 – Activist of protestant Initsiativniki, who refuse to cooperate with state, punished
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4399449
A magistrate judge in Troitsk (Cheliabinsk oblast) fined the leader of a local religious group of the “International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists” 5,000 rubles. He had not informed the regional department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation about his preaching, the press service of the oblast prosecutor’s office reports.