The FSB of Russia announced the alleged detention of the leader of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Dzhankoi. The Russian state agency TASS writes about this.
“The activities of the leader of the Dzhankoi cell of the banned religious organization Jehovah’s Witnesses have been suppressed. The elder held meetings with adherents via video link, promoted the ideas of the banned organization with the broadcast of extremist materials”,- the message says.
The detainee is charged with Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Organization of the activities of a banned religious organization). The identity of the detainee is unknown, there are no public comments of the defendant.
Recall that in March 2019 in Yalta, FSB officers searched the homes of people suspected of participating in the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization banned in Russia. A criminal case has been initiated against a 34-year-old resident of Yalta.
In November 2018, in Dzhankoi, FSB officers conducted mass searches of people suspected of being members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization banned in Russia. The leader of the local regional group of Witnesses Syvash, which was registered in 2015 and liquidated in 2017 after the ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, Serhii Filatov, was detained. He is under bail.
On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia ruled to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist organization.