Believers Were Arrested in Kaluga with Planting Banned Literature

On June 26, 2019, searches were conducted in Kaluga, Kaluga Region, on the basis of the assumption that the city's residents profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The court arrested Roman Makhnev and Dmitry Kuzin for two months. One believer claimed that compromising material had been planted.

Officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Kaluga region searched two apartments of believers. Personal belongings, electronic devices, notes, various editions of the Bible, and scientific books on religious studies were seized from them. During the search, one of the believers, Roman Makhnev, noticed the planting of literature that did not belong to his family members, about which he entered a statement in the protocol. The searches continued until late at night.

Two days later, on June 28, the Kaluga District Court of the Kaluga Region sentenced Roman Makhnev and Dmitry Kuzin to 2 months of detention.

Planting extremist literature on believers has become a common practice in recent years. Finding no evidence of the guilt of believers, law enforcement agencies stoop to outright fabrication of evidence. Meanwhile, public figures, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other Russian and international organizations are increasingly calling for an end to the persecution of innocent people just because of their faith.