“Search For Everything Related to Jehovah.” New Details of the Raid on Believers In Kazan

On January 21, 2020, after a day spent in a temporary detention facility, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan released Tatyana Obizhestvit and Leysan Bochkareva under house arrest. Meanwhile, Leysan's husband, Andrey Bochkarev, was sent to a pre-trial detention center.

On January 22, it became known that operatives were going around the apartments of believers with questions. One of them, Daria Granik, was searched again that morning, and she herself was summoned for questioning at the Center for Combating Extremism and Terrorism.

Additional details of what happened on January 19, when at 11:15 a.m. a group of security officials invaded Tatiana Obizhestvit's apartment. Immediately, one of them loudly commanded: "Bochkarev Andrey, go out! Is Laysan's wife here? According to believers, law enforcement officers generally behaved correctly, but did not introduce themselves. Later that day, the search began and lasted about two hours. A computer was seized from the owners of the house. According to the security forces, they were looking for weapons, drugs and "everything connected with Jehovah."

During the interrogation, which took place in the building of the Department for Combating Organized Crime, methods of psychological pressure were used. For example, believers were told that their fellow believers had already begun to confess. Tatiana and Leysan were taken for medical examination in handcuffs. The case is being conducted by investigator Galimzyanov R.U.

44-year-old Andrey Bochkarev, his wife Leysan and Tatyana Obizhestvit are civilians in Kazan who have nothing to do with extremism. The right to profess any religion and peacefully gather together is guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited in Russia.