The case of Samoilova and Others in Rybinsk

Case History

On July 13, 2022, Rybinsk security forces searched 16 houses of city residents. Two days earlier, the investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Yaroslavl Region, D. Kovalenko, opened a criminal case against 66-year-old Yevgeniya Samoylova and 45-year-old Olga Golovacheva on suspicion of participating in extremist activities. This is how the investigation interprets the participation of women in peaceful worship services via the Internet. In March 2024, the case against the believers was closed due to the lack of evidence of a crime.
Timeline

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    July 11, 2022

    D. S. Kovalenko, an investigator of the Rybinsk Interdistrict Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Yaroslavl Region, initiates a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code against Evgenia Samoilova and Olga Golovacheva.

    On the same day, the investigator draws up a petition to search the house of another local believer, who is also suspected of participating in extremist activities.

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    July 13, 2022

    In the morning in Rybinsk, with the participation of officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Guard and the FSB, searches are carried out at 16 addresses where Jehovah's Witnesses live. Several believers are taken to the building of the local lyceum for interrogation.

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    March 20, 2024 Case dismissed Art. 282.2 (2) Elderly Believers with a disability

    A. Grigoriev, investigator for particularly important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Yaroslavl Region, terminates the case against the believers and withdraws their recognizance not to leave. The ruling states: "The investigation believes that the actions of E. I. Samoylova, O. V. Golovacheva, D. V. Lebedev and M. V. Ovchinnikov do not contain signs of a crime under part 2 of article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation."

    In addition, the very fact of participation of believers in the activities of the local religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses" in the city of Rybinsk has not been reliably established. According to the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 28.06.2011 No. 11, to which the investigator refers, participation in the activities of an extremist organization is understood as "the commission by a person of intentional actions directly related to the continuation or renewal of the activities of this organization."