Photo: Police officers removing the handcuffs of Vladimir Alushkin (January 2019)
4 believers were transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest
Penza Region, Khabarovsk Territory, Primorye TerritoryVladimir Alushkin in Penza, Vitaliy Zhuk and Nikolay Polevodov in Khabarovsk and Valentin Osadchuk in Vladivostok left the pre-trial detention center.
On January 14, 2019, the courtroom of the first instance in Penza was filled with listeners who came to support 54-year-old Vladimir Alushkin. Unexpectedly, the court refused to allow the investigator to extend his arrest and released him from custody in the courtroom under house arrest. Vladimir Alushkin spent 184 days behind bars.
On the same day, January 14, 2019, the Khabarovsk Regional Court changed the decision of the court of first instance on the arrest of Vitaly Zhuk and Nikolai Polevodov. They were placed under house arrest. Both stayed in SIZO-1 in the Khabarovsk Territory for 66 days. The third defendant in their criminal case, Stanislav Kim, is still in jail.
Finally, on January 18, 2019, after 275 days in custody, the court of appeal decided to transfer Valentin Osadchuk, a resident of Vladivostok, to house arrest. Investigators of the FSB of Russia in the Primorsky Territory unsuccessfully tried to intimidate him. According to eyewitnesses, during his arrest in April 2018, a security officer tried to make Valentin feel sorry for himself, saying that he was "not destined to buy in the summer." In response, Valentine, without losing his sense of humor and dignity and being firmly convinced of his innocence, replied: "Well, maybe then I'll play snowballs in winter."