Case of Kocheva in Birobidzhan

Case History

In October 2025, law enforcement authorities in Birobidzhan conducted a search at the home of Natalya Kocheva. The elderly woman learned that a criminal case had been opened against her on suspicion of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. Previously, the believer had been a witness in the case of Oleg Postnikov.

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    Dmitriy Yankin, senior investigator-criminalist of the investigation department of the FSB of Russia for the Jewish Autonomous Region, interrogates Natalia Kocheva as a witness in the case of Oleg Postnikov. The investigator threatens the believer with prosecution under the article on refusal to testify due to the fact that the woman uses Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

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    Dmitriy Yankin issued a decision to initiate a criminal case against Natalya Kocheva under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

    The investigation believes that Natalya continued the activities of "an extremist organization in the course of many (at least four) conspiratorial meetings ... in the form of a collective religious assembly... consisting of a public study of various extremist materials, the performance of songs from a special collection of religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, prayers, sermons."

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    Early in the morning, Natalia is detained at her workplace and taken home. Within 20 minutes, three FSB officers conducted a search in the presence of a lawyer. A tablet, several phones and a Bible were seized from Natalia.

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