“Put Alushkin in Prison.” Police in Penza Believe They Have Carte Blanche for Religious Persecution

On December 27, 2019, law enforcement officers detained two women in Penza under the pretext of searching for fraudsters. As it turned out later, the real reason for the detention was religious beliefs. One of the security officials flaunted the fact that he "imprisoned Alushkin."

Friends 26 and 29 years old came to visit a local woman who had invited them to talk about the Bible the day before. Almost immediately after the believers, two police officers entered the entrance. Major Valery Kulikov said that the women allegedly fit the description of the wanted fraudsters and forced them to follow him to the police station. As it turned out, there were no specific orientations for believers, the police picked them up at random, but the description and appearance of the detainees did not coincide with the orientations.

The women were not charged and were taken to another police station without apparent grounds, where the security forces continued their interrogation. The detainees were inspected and mobile phones were seized. The security forces tried to take fingerprints by deception and intimidation. At the same time, threats were made against believers and psychological pressure was exerted on them. During the interrogation, one of the women became ill.

The police questioned the detainees' religious beliefs, asking if they needed help to "leave the sect."

Law enforcement officers were especially interested in whether the women knew Vladimir Alushkin, who on December 13, 2019, was sentenced to 6 years for professing his faith.

A security official surnamed Bukov, who introduced himself as an "investigator for extremist cases," said that women did not need to share their faith with others. Now, according to him, the security forces will have to decide "what kind of case to initiate: a criminal case on extremism or an administrative case on missionary activity." After interrogation, the women were released.

The events described happened just two weeks after the verdict of the Leninsky District Court of Penza against six citizens whose faith was not liked by the security forces. In addition to Vladimir Alushkin, his wife Tatyana, as well as Galiya Olkhova, Denis Timoshin, Andrey Magliv and Vladimir Kulyasov were convicted under the "extremist" article. Alushkin's wife and four of his acquaintances received 2 years of suspended sentence each.