Photo: search of Jehovah's Witnesses (archival photo)

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

In Tynda, security forces searched the homes of believers. Personal notes, postcards and Bibles were seized

Amur Region

On November 17, 2019, in Tynda (Amur Region), searches began in the homes of law-abiding citizens suspected of reading the Bible in the morning. They were conducted by two task forces that arrived from Blagoveshchensk.

Among the security forces were Police Major Valentin Fomin, representative of the FSB Directorate for the Amur Region Maxim Isaev and other operatives. One of the groups consisted of 6 people. It seems that the searches took place according to a pre-prepared list. It is known that representatives of the authorities came to at least 6 houses. They seized cell phones and laptops, personal notes, postcards, Bibles in the Synodal translation, and even a napkin with a beautiful illustration that seemed suspicious to them. Police Major Fomin tried in vain to start a conversation with the owners on a biblical topic. All those whose homes were inspected were invited for interrogation by the FSB of the city of Tynda.

Update. Later it became known that searches were carried out in 9 families of believers from Tynda. 12 people were interrogated by the FSB.

Earlier, 3 criminal cases against believers were initiated in the Amur Region: the case of Berchuk and Golik in Blagoveshchensk, the case of Moiseenko in Zeya and the case of Olshevsky and Ermilov in Blagoveshchensk.

Case of Bukin and Others in Tynda

Case History
In 2018, in the town of Tynda, FSB agent Nurakov, feigning interest in the Bible, began attending religious services of Jehovah’s Witnesses and collecting information about them. In November 2019, a criminal case was initiated against Sergey Yuferov, Valeriy Slashchev, Mikhail Burkov and Vladimir Bukin. A wave of searches took place throughout the city. Obukhov, the investigator of FSB, who has at least eight cases against Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Amur region, accused the men of organizing the activities of an extremist organization and involving others in it. In June 2021, the case went to trial. A year and a half later, the believers were sentenced to six years and two months to six and a half years in prison. In December 2022, the appeal overturned the verdict and sent the case for a new trial, and the believers were released from the pre-trial detention center, where they spent two months. In June 2023, they were again sentenced to prison. Bukin, Slashchev and Yuferov were given six years and four months each, and Burkov - six years and two months. A further appeal in August 2023 upheld this decision.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Amur Region
Locality:
Tynda
Suspected of:
по версии следствия, «организовали собрания последователей... религиозных организаций»
Court case number:
11907100001000076
Initiated:
November 11, 2019
Current case stage:
The verdict entered into force
Investigating:
СО УФСБ России по Амурской области
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.2 (1.1)
Court case number:
1-45/2023 (1-9/2022; 1-131/2021)
Court of First Instance:
Тындинский районный суд Амурской области
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Валентина Брикова
Case History