Mass Searches in the Homes of Believers in the Bryansk Region

Early in the morning of June 11, 2019, in the cities of Unecha and Novozybkov (Bryansk region), law enforcement officers conducted mass raids on the homes of local residents who are suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Criminal cases have been initiated. In some cases, believers were forced to lie on the floor.

Additional details are being clarified.

Law enforcement officers inappropriately call the religion of citizens participation in the activities of an extremist organization. The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation, prominent public figures of Russia, 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."