In Omsk, a husband and wife were arrested for their faith, a criminal case was opened

On July 6, 2018, 46-year-old Sergey Polyakov and his wife Anastasia, who were suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, were sent to the Omsk pre-trial detention center. They were detained during searches conducted on July 4, 2018 in the homes of local residents.

The Polyakovs did not get in touch for 2 days, the door to their apartment was found broken open. Simultaneous searches were carried out in at least 4 dwellings of Omsk residents. Starting at 7:00 a.m., the searches continued until 3:00 p.m. and were carried out in houses, on land plots, in outbuildings and in parked cars of citizens. All possible electronic storage media and electronic devices were seized. During the search, the witnesses actively helped law enforcement officers, prompted and even tried to interrogate believers. The case is being conducted by Denis Loginovsky, an investigator of the Azov District Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Omsk Region.

It is not yet known under what articles the criminal case was initiated. However, law enforcement officers in different regions of Russia mistake the joint religion of citizens for participation in an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, as well as the Presidential Council for Human Rights, have already drawn attention to this problem.