Three Believers Imprisoned in Rostov-on-Don

On May 22, 2019, 51-year-old Aleksandr Parkov, 35-year-old Arsen Avanesov and his 66-year-old father Vilen Avanesov were detained in Rostov-on-Don. A criminal case has been opened against them for organizing extremist activities just because they profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Dozens of other believers were released after interrogation.

Update. On May 26, 2019, Victoria Mamelko, judge of the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don, decided to send all three to custody for 2 months. They are kept in SIZO-1 in the Rostov region.

It is known that at least 15 searches were conducted in the apartments of Rostov residents who were suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. In some cases, riot policemen, breaking into apartments, used force, seized electronic devices, photographs, and Bibles from residents.

For interrogation, the believers were taken to the building of the Center for Countering Extremism on Saryan Street. Suspects Arsen and Vilen Avanesov, as well as Alexander Parkov, are now being held in the temporary detention facility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at 28 Voroshilovsky Prospekt. The court hearing on the election of a measure of restraint is tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 24.

The persecution of believers was initiated by employees of the First Investigation Department of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia. The detention was supervised by senior investigator M. Antipov.

Law enforcement officers inappropriately call the religion of citizens 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."