Details of Raid Against Jehovah's Witnesses in Samara: Law Enforcement Officers Used Force Against One Believer
Samara RegionOn September 16, 2024, in Samara, law enforcement officers detained Samvel Babayan, who practices the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Despite the poor health of the believer, the court sent him to a pretrial detention center. A criminal case for extremism has been initiated against him.
These events were preceded by a search and interrogations, which took place on the same day. The law enforcement officers took Samvel, his wife and 17-year-old son to the local office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The young man was taken separately from his parents; on the way a police officer threatened him with a long term of imprisonment in a penal colony if he did not incriminate his relatives.
Investigator Yuriy Prokopov charged Samvel Babayan with organizing the activity of an extremist organization (Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC). The decision to arrest him was made by Irina Velmina, judge of the Zheleznodorozhniy District Court of Samara; the hearing was held on September 18, and by then the believer had spent 2 days in a temporary detention facility.
Samvel Babayan is not the only one whose home was invaded by law enforcement officers on September 16. At least five other searches of the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Samara are known to have taken place.
Update.
Police and special forces officers broke into the houses of believers early in the morning. The security forces demanded passwords for phones, tablets and computers. In some cases, they confiscated Bibles, notebooks with notes, pictures of Bible scenes, bank cards, as well as electronic devices.
According to one believer, the law enforcement officers used force against him: they twisted his arms, handcuffed him and put him on the floor in the corridor, where he lay until the end of the search. At some point, he fainted. Later, he was taken to the police station for interrogation. For several hours, he was subjected to rough treatment: the security forces hit him on the head, insulted him and pressured him.
Since 2021, ten of Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted in the Samara Region.
