Case History
In November 2022, while admiring the beauty of the national park “Land of the Leopard” with friends, Viktor Chernov, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses from the village of Tavrichanka, learned that his home was searched. The next day he and his son, who is not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, were summoned to a neighboring village to be interrogated by the Investigative Committee. There he learned that a criminal case had been initiated against him on charges of extremism. His son was released, but Viktor was detained and placed in a temporary detention center for one day. On the following day, the court placed the believer under house arrest, which lasted until March 2023. Chernov was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists, and all his accounts were blocked. Due to the restrictions imposed on him, the believer could not pay for medical treatment or visit doctors, so his health deteriorated. In June 2023, the believer was placed under a recognizance agreement.
