Demand to investigate allegations of torture in Surgut

On February 25, 2019, Andrey Babushkin, head of the standing commission on assistance to the Public Monitoring Commission, penitentiary system reform and crime prevention, as well as a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, demanded to stop the criminal activities of the security forces responsible for torturing Jehovah's Witnesses detained in Surgut. His appeal was addressed to the Prosecutor General, the head of the Investigative Committee, as well as the chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

In his statement, the human rights activist described what happened to the detained believers in the dungeons of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Surgut. Andrei Babushkin demanded that a criminal case be opened against the security forces for abuse of office and organization of a criminal community (Articles 286.3 and 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and "to choose a preventive measure against them that excludes their criminal activity."

In addition, Andrey Babushkin asked the PMC officers to visit Sergey Loginov in the pre-trial detention center and interview him about torture.

Early in the morning of February 15, 2019, in Surgut, Lyantor and other settlements of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, mass searches were carried out in the homes of citizens who are suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. At least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were tortured in the buildings of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Surgut. A criminal case under the article "organization and participation of an extremist organization" was initiated against 20 local residents, including women. On February 16, 2019, believers in Surgut contacted the hotline of the TFR on the fact of torture. On February 17, 2019, the court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention in a pre-trial detention center for three of them.