A new wave of searches in the homes of believers in Omsk

On May 8, 2019, searches were carried out in Omsk in approximately 5 homes of citizens whom law enforcement officers consider to be Jehovah's Witnesses. The raid was sanctioned the day before by Oksana Voltornist, a judge of the Kuibyshevsky District Court of Omsk. The searches took place as part of a criminal case against the Polyakovs.

Investigators brought to court a list of people who, according to the Investigative Committee, were previously members of the Omsk, Kazakh congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. The court was not interested in the question of whether "Omsk, Kazakh" was related to the organization banned by the court. The very existence of the list was considered by Judge Voltornist to be sufficient reason to turn the lives of innocent citizens into a nightmare by authorizing searches of their homes.

For example, one of the houses was invaded by a group of 8 people, some of them wearing masks. During the search, investigators and operatives rummaged through closets, filmed everything, humiliated the human dignity of citizens and made offensive comments about their faith. In at least one case, the investigating officer did not allow the landlady to cross out the remaining empty fields when drawing up the report.

After the searches, the believers were taken for interrogation to investigator Denis Levchenko. This criminal case was initiated in June 2018. Spouses Sergey and Anastasia Polyakov spent exactly five months in solitary confinement. By subjecting the spouses to such cruel treatment, law enforcement officers forced them, in fact, to incriminate themselves and other people. In December 2018, the couple were placed under house arrest. Their current preventive measure is a written undertaking not to leave.

Law enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation, as well as international organizations - the European Union External Action Service, observers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - drew attention to this problem. Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with extremism and insist on their complete innocence. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that the decisions of the Russian courts on the liquidation and prohibition of organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually."