Invasion of believers in Kostroma (July 2018). Photo source: "TV Center"
Invasion of believers in Kostroma (July 2018). Photo source: "TV Center"
According to available data, in 2018, 269 searches were conducted throughout Russia in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses. All searches are a direct consequence of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to ban Jehovah's Witnesses. A search turns an innocent person's life into a nightmare, undermines his health, causes deep emotional trauma and casts a shadow on his reputation in the eyes of neighbors, employers and others.
The year 2018 began with 12 searches in the homes of believers in Kemerovo in January and 13 searches in Belgorod in February. In Belgorod, large groups of law enforcement officers knocked citizens to the floor, put them against the wall. Some searches were carried out in a rude form and were accompanied by offensive comments, Bibles, electronic devices, passports, money, even photographs hanging on the wall were seized from citizens.
In April 2018, 8 searches took place: 2 in Ufa, 4 in Polyarny (Murmansk region) and 2 in Vladivostok. In Polyarny, armed riot police officers acted extremely rudely. In one case, they broke down the door to an apartment and, at gunpoint, forced a man and his minor daughter at home to lie on the floor. Elsewhere, the commandos pushed an elderly man with such force that he fell, and, in addition, bruised two other women who were visiting him. The teenagers, siblings, were put against the wall and ordered to hold their arms outstretched.
In May 2018 , a total of 68 searches took place in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses: 17 in Orenburg, 22 in Birobidzhan, 1 in Perm, 8 in Orel, 10 in Naberezhnye Chelny (Tatarstan), 6 in Shuya (Ivanovo region) and 4 in Magadan. In Shuya, during one of the searches, riot police officers put a gun to a man's head, although he did not offer any resistance, and forced him to lie on the floor for 15 minutes. In Birobidzhan, about 150 security officials simultaneously participated in a raid on Jehovah's Witnesses, code-named "Judgment Day".
In June 2018 , a total of 19 searches were conducted in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses: 4 in Pskov, at least 2 in Tomsk, 7 in Saratov , and 8 in Lensk , Yakutia. In Pskov, law enforcement officers broke down doors, among the victims of searches were 2-year-old children and 80-year-old people.
In July 2018, 27 searches took place: 4 in Omsk, 4 in Penza, 2 in Razdolnoye (Primorsky Territory), 3 in Blagoveshchensk, in Berezovsky (Kemerovo Region), 2 in Kostroma, 1 in Nakhodka (Primorsky Territory) and 3 in Vilyuchinsk (Kamchatka Territory). In Omsk, masked security forces broke down the door of the apartment where the couple slept and, without making any demands, struck the man several blows to the head, as a result of which severe bleeding began. After a while, the man was picked up and forced to wipe the blood on the floor. In the village of Razdolnoye, armed masked law enforcers hit a 75-year-old landlord in the face during the assault and twisted his hands behind his back.
In August 2018 , 12 searches took place: at least 1 in Karpinsk (Sverdlovsk region), 4 in Khabarovsk, 3 in Spassk-Dalny (Primorsky Territory) and 4 in Yelizovo (Kamchatka Territory).
In September 2018, 13 searches took place: 6 in Perm and 7 in Kostroma.
In October 2018, 38 searches took place: 8 in Sychevka and Smolensk, 19 in Kirov and 11 in Dyurtyuli (Bashkortostan). In Smolensk, during a search, 2 women were arrested, who have been behind bars for about 100 days.
In November 2018 , 51 searches took place: 20 in Krasnoyarsk, 10 in Novosibirsk, 4 in Khabarovsk, 8 in Dzhankoy (Crimea), 5 in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory) and 4 in Spassk-Dalny (Primorsky Territory).
In December 2018, 8 searches took place: 1 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and 7 in Neftekumsk (Stavropol Territory). In Neftekumsk, during a search, a woman was forced to fully undress in the presence of witnesses. In addition, a minor was subjected to a body search with exposure to his underwear. A woman with group II disability was not allowed to use the toilet for a long time. A young girl, in front of whom the search took place, cried with fear. Another woman required emergency medical attention after the search.
In addition to searches in homes, at least 57 other people were subjected to a personal search (an investigative action consisting in finding on the body of the searched person, in his clothes and shoes, as well as in his personal belongings objects relevant to the criminal case). The above number of home searches and personal searches is probably incomplete.
How do Jehovah's Witnesses who have been searched live? How do they feel when they are rounded up and their loved ones are imprisoned? They themselves talk about this in the videos "Ruthless searches and arrests of believers in Kirov", "Arrests of believers throughout Russia" and "Dzhankoy after the raid: how persecution cripples the lives of believers".
A search is a significant restriction of a person's constitutional right to liberty and security of person, privacy, personal and family secrets, honor and good name. Concern about what is happening was expressed by the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation and personally by President Vladimir Putin.