Mass Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses Took Place in Kuban. At Least One Believer Was Sent to Jail
Krasnodar TerritoryOn Sunday morning, 13 February 2022, at least 25 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses were raided in the villages of Vyselki and Berezanskaya in Krasnodar Territory. Another search took place in Novorossiysk. According to preliminary information, a criminal case was opened for belief in God against three men — Valeriy Vichkayev, Vitaliy Ushakov and Yevgeniy Bochko.
Ushakov, 41, was placed in the detention center in the town of Korenovsk after interrogation. In the coming days, the court will decide on his measure of restraint. The 46-year-old Bochkov was also interrogated in Korenovsk, but by the evening he was released home. Law enforcement officers did not find Valeriy Vichkayev at home, broke down the front door and conducted a search without the owners being present. Law enforcement officers, some of whom were armed with submachine guns, did not let Vichkaev's mother-in-law and the youngest daughter into the house without any explanation. The daughter was sick after spending several hours in the street.
Another peaceful believer allegedly became a suspect. He was interrogated, but, due to his disability, was not taken away from Vyselki village and was released on recognizance not to leave.
Update.
On February 15, 2022, the court chose a measure of restraint for Vitaliy Ushakov in the form of detention for a period of 2 months. Three days later, his wife was searched again. On February 21, the believer is planned to be transferred to the pre-trial detention center in the city of Krasnodar.
Aleksey Shubnikov, Valeriy Vichkayev and Yevgeniy Bochko were given a ban on certain actions: believers are not allowed to use the telephone, the Internet, leave their area of residence, communicate with defendants in a criminal case and, in general, with Jehovah's Witnesses.
According to updated data, on February 13, 2022, at least 31 searches were carried out in the Kuban. In addition to the villages of Vyselki and Berezanskaya, raids took place in the villages of Buzinovskaya, Novodonetskaya, Zhuravskaya, the village of Gazyr, the village of Zarya, and the Beysuzhek the Second farm, including 75-year-old and 81-year-old believers. In total, the searches affected at least 51 people, including those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses. In one case, an elderly woman, about 85 years of age, was subjected to a three-hour search. Electronic devices, bank cards and personal records were confiscated from believers.
