Photo: arson attack on the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Zheshart (Komi), May 2017
Photo: arson attack on the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Zheshart (Komi), May 2017
On May 24, 2017 in the village. Zheshart (Komi Republic) set fire to the house in which worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses were held. The porch and half of the roof burned down. The building suffered significant damage. The remains of a Molotov cocktail were found.
About 50 followers of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses live in the village. They are shocked by what happened. The action continued a wave of vandalism following the Supreme Court's decision against Jehovah's Witnesses. Incidents also occurred in St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Kaliningrad, Moscow, Penza, Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Tula regions, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and the Republic of Udmurtia.