Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

Jehovah's Witnesses' Homes Were Searched in Mari El, Including the Home of an 83-Year-Old Woman. One Believer Was Arrested

Mari El,   Nizhegorod Region

On April 15, 2022, nine dwellings of Jehovah's Witnesses from Yoshkar-Ola and the village of Silikatny (Mari El), as well as in Nizhny Novgorod, were searched. They affected at least 15 people, including an 83-year-old woman. The security forces detained 39-year-old Yevgeniy Plotnikov. He was sent to a detention center.

Searches of peaceful believers began in the morning and lasted from 6 to 8 hours. The security forces were looking for "extremist literature and computer and other equipment, through which communication was carried out with unidentified persons during worship." Electronic devices, bank cards, storage media, notepads and postcards were confiscated.

P. Betkanov, the FSB investigator for the Republic of Mari El, summoned the believers for interrogation. Some subpoenas do not indicate the investigating body, the interrogating officer and the status of the summoned citizens.

As part of the same criminal case in Nizhny Novgorod, a search was carried out at the home of a young family with a newborn child, who had recently moved from Yoshkar-Ola to live with their parents. The raid was led by investigator Mikhail Zaulin and detective Vyacheslav Kalistov. The security forces behaved rudely and exerted psychological pressure, forcing the believers to incriminate themselves. The young father was summoned for interrogation in Yoshkar-Ola, 350 km from home.

Update. On April 17, 2022, A. Nikolayev, judge of the Yoshkar-Ola City Court of the Republic of Mari El, placed Yevgeniy Plotnikov in custody for two months. It became known that he is in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Yoshkar-Ola. Letters of support can be sent by regular mail or through the FSIN-letter system.

The case of Plotnikov and Others in Yoshkar-Ola

Case History
In April 2022, the FSB initiated a criminal case against Jehovah’s Witnesses from Yoshkar-Ola. Searches were carried out at nine addresses; law enforcement officers used force against one of the believers, Yevgeny Plotnikov. He was arrested and subsequently placed in a detention center. In August 2022, Yevgeny was placed under house arrest, and in October he was placed under a ban on certain activities. From December of the same year, the FSB investigator began making other residents of the city defendants – Sergey Kulikov and his son Aleksey, Eduard Kapitonov and his son Ilya, Igor Alekseyev, Vladimir Usenko and Denis Petrov. The investigator regarded practicing their faith as extremist actions. The believers were made to sign a recognizance agreement.
Timeline

Persons in case

Buryi
Ilia
Naymushin
Sergey
Kapitonov
Eduard
Petrov
Denis
Kapitonov
Ilya
Kulikov
Sergey
Alekseyev
Igor
Kulikov
Aleksey
Plotnikov
Yevgeniy
Usenko
Vladimir

Criminal case

Region:
Mari El
Locality:
Yoshkar-Ola
Suspected of:
"We continued the activities of a religious organization ... by convening meetings of followers of the religious beliefs (dogma) of Jehovah's Witnesses and directly participating in them" (from the decision to prosecute)
Court case number:
12207880001000006
Initiated:
April 12, 2022
Current case stage:
review of case materials by the accused
Investigating:
FSB Directorate for the Republic of Mari El
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.2 (2)
Case History