The Case of Repin and Others in Ozersk

Lieutenant Colonel Denis Mirolyubov, an investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Department for the city (closed administrative-territorial unit) of Ozersk, initiates a criminal case against five believers.

Judge of the Ozersky City Court of the Chelyabinsk Region Aleksey Gladkov chooses a measure of restraint for Artem Repin, Igor Smolnikov, Oleg Preobrazhensky and Evgeny Cherepanov in the form of detention in a pre-trial detention center.

Artem Repin has a congenital heart defect. After being taken into custody, his hypertension worsened, they refuse to measure his blood pressure in the pre-trial detention center, they do not give him pills. In the near future, he is waiting for a parcel with a blood pressure monitor to track his blood pressure on his own.

Oleg Preobrazhensky has serious health problems, and doctors suspect he has a serious illness. He did not have time to complete the medical examination scheduled for the end of January due to his arrest. The believer is worried about his 85-year-old father, whom he cared for after an elderly man recently suffered a stroke. It is cold in the cell where Oleg is kept, the believer almost always wears a hat. They don't let him see his wife, they don't let him call her. Preobrazhensky receives letters and parcels.

Igor Smolnikov is experiencing difficulties due to the fact that there is constant smoking in the cell where he is kept. Everyone except Repin is also still in smoking cells.

Yevgeniy Cherepanov, Oleg Preobrazhensky, Igor Smolnikov and Artem Repin remain in pre-trial detention center No. 4 in Zlatoust. Men are quarantined. The investigator does not allow them to make calls or see family members.

The Chelyabinsk Regional Court issues an appeal ruling against Artem Repin, Yevgeniy Cherepanov, Oleg Preobrazhensky and Igor Smolnikov and changes their restriction measure from detention in a pre-trial detention center to house arrest.

Igor Smolnikov applies to the Ozersk City Court for permission to leave the apartment three times a week for 2 hours to care for his seriously ill sister, who lives separately. The court refuses. Moreover, he was not notified of the court hearing in advance.

The investigator changes the preventive measure against Artem Repin, Igor Smolnikov, Oleg Preobrazhenskiy and Yevgeniy Cherepanov from house arrest to a recognizance agreement.

The defendants do not agree with the charge: "Peaceful conversation about God and Jesus Christ ... cannot be considered as illegal and socially dangerous [actions]." This position has been repeatedly confirmed by Russian courts and authorities. Yevgeniy Cherepanov emphasizes that the meetings of believers are not related to the activities of a legal entity. Oleg Preobrazhensky adds that the prosecution is actually forcing him to renounce his religion. The defendants also draw attention to the fact that the examination did not reveal the distribution of extremist materials.

Witness Andrey Demyanov, who previously studied the Bible and attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, is being questioned. He characterizes the defendants positively, noting that they have prosperous families, and he has never heard from them statements calling for violence or violation of the law. According to him, Jehovah's Witnesses, in general, are engaged in peaceful activities. "They told me how to behave correctly, how to believe in Jehovah. Bible study, songs, some poems," he recalls.