Searches of two believers in Surgut declared illegal

On March 27, 2019, the court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra granted the appeal of Yevgeny Kayryak against the order to search his apartment. The plaintiff referred to the absence of legal grounds for the search. The court noted that "the [lower] court did not in any way motivate or evaluate the decision, did not draw any conclusions of its own as to why it considered the investigator's request for permission to conduct a search to be justified, and in connection with which it should be satisfied." The proceedings were discontinued.

On the same day, the district court ruled on a similar complaint by Vyacheslav Boronos. The decision to allow a search of his apartment was declared illegal due to violations of procedural norms (lack of a properly executed record of the court session). The investigator's petition was sent to the court of first instance for a new trial.

On February 15, 2019, shortly after the searches, Yevgeniy Kayryak and Vyacheslav Boronos reported that they had been tortured in the building of the Investigative Committee during interrogations. Criminal cases have been initiated against them. Believers insist on their complete innocence, while courts in Surgut and other Russian cities continue to interpret ordinary religious activities of believers as extremist activity. The Human Rights Council, the President of Russia, the European Court of Human Rights and many other Russian and international organizations have already drawn attention to this problem.