In the Tomsk Region, There Were Five Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses. After a Night in the Detention Center, One Believer Was Placed Under House Arrest

On the morning of July 14, 2020, officers of the Investigative Committee and the FSB conducted searches in the city of Seversk. 11 men and women were taken to the security forces for interrogation. All but 50-year-old Yevgeny Korotun were released. He was placed in a detention center and placed under house arrest the next day.

"The door was opened as it was almost broken down. Approximately 10 people entered the apartment and started searching. My son and I were kept in a stairwell for hours. The neighbors took out a chair and some food," said one of the believers after the security raid.

The searches began simultaneously at 9 a.m. in the houses where five families of believers live. FSB officers detained 50-year-old Andrey Kolesnichenko and 31-year-old Andrey Ledyaikin at work, after that searches were conducted at their homes. Lieutenant Sergey Mamontov, senior investigator of the investigation department of Leninskiy district of Tomsk, wondered why Aleksey Kolesnichenko "does not attend the Orthodox or Catholic Church.

The search of 67-year-old Aleksey Yershov lasted about 5 hours. Aleksey's wife, Lyudmila, was not allowed into his apartment, but later was taken for interrogation together with her husband and daughter, whose apartment was also searched. Ludmila's anxiety and exhaustion increased her blood pressure.

Law enforcers confiscated electronic devices, various Bible translations, notebooks, WI-FI-routers, video cameras, photos, postcards, bank cards, foreign passports and even volumes of Victor Hugo and Leo Tolstoy from believers.

After the searches, the detainees were taken to the building of the Investigative Committee in Seversk, where they stayed until late in the evening. They were interrogated and then released.

Earlier in Tomsk region Sergey Klimov, a local resident, was convicted for his faith for six years in the colony. The criminal prosecution of the believers is carried out against the law and the Russian authorities' assurances that Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia have the right to practice their religion. The international community strongly condemns the religious persecution of this group of Christians.