A new criminal case for faith and search in Kirov

On May 24, 2019, in Kirov, officers of the Police Center for Countering Extremism (CPE) invaded the apartment where 60-year-old Anatoliy Tokarev lives with his family. A criminal case was opened against him under the article "Organization of extremist activity" (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for "joint singing of biblical songs ... in his apartment."

Employees of the Center for Counteracting Extremism offered Anatoly Tokarev cooperation with the investigation in exchange for refusing to prosecute members of his family, but he refused (such cooperation implies the "confession" of a believer in extremist activities that he never engaged, in fact, self-incrimination). At the direction of the detective O.V. Bratukhin, Anatoly and his son packed their belongings with them, but the policeman later admitted that they were not going to arrest them yet. During the search, phones and computer equipment were taken from the family.

After the search, Anatoliy was taken for interrogation to Georgy Malykh, an investigator of the first department for the investigation of especially important cases of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Kirov region, which is investigating the case of Andrzej Oniszczuk, who has been languishing in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in the Kirov region for almost 8 months, as well as other Jehovah's Witnesses. Anatoly Tokarev learned that on May 8, 2019, a criminal case was opened against him under the article "Organization of extremist activity" for the fact that, according to the investigation, he "organized ... including in his apartment... meetings of followers and participants of this meeting in compliance with the actions characteristic of this association, expressed in the joint singing of biblical songs ... study of religious literature, the so-called "Holy Scripture" (Bible), which is included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials Containing the Doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Anatoliy Tokarev, his wife and children were released, but he had to sign an undertaking to appear for interrogation and provide the investigation with a new phone number (which he should acquire instead of the one seized during the search).

Law enforcement officers inappropriately call the religion of citizens participation in the activities of an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation, as well as international organizations - the European Union External Action Service, observers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - drew attention to this problem. Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with extremism and insist on their complete innocence. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that the decisions of the Russian courts on the liquidation and prohibition of organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually."