Case History
In September 2025, searches and home inspections were conducted at the residences of about 25 families of Jehovah’s Witnesses in several localities of Khakassia. A criminal case under an extremism-related article was opened against Viktor Timoshchenko, Aleksandr Gorev, and Evgeniy Bagin. The men were taken for interrogation to the Investigative Committee in Abakan, where they were detained and later placed in a pretrial detention center (SIZO). After 3.5 months, the believers were transferred to house arrest. Following new searches and detentions in January 2026, three more men — Oleg Zhukov, Vyacheslav Sharov, and Alexey Gorokhov — were placed in SIZO.