Photo: Timofey Zhukov

Photo: Timofey Zhukov

Photo: Timofey Zhukov

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

Timofey Zhukov Detained by Security Officials Attempting to Force a Psychiatric Examination in a Hospital

Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area

On February 5, 2020, in Khanty-Mansiysk, 40-year-old lawyer Timofey Zhukov was detained under unknown circumstances, whom the Surgut security forces are trying to put in a psychiatric hospital for a month, located more than a thousand kilometers from his home. Earlier, believers in Surgut reported torture.

On January 16, 2020, the judge of the Surgut City Court, Tatyana Slyusareva, issued a ruling according to which a believer from Surgut, Timofey Zhukov , must arrive at the Sverdlovsk Regional Psychiatric Hospital (Yekaterinburg) by February 5 for an examination within 30 days. Such a measure is equivalent to detention. On January 20, Zhukov appealed the decision to the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra. This means that Judge Slyusareva's decision has not entered into legal force and must be reviewed by a higher court.

Nevertheless, on February 4, law enforcement officers in civilian clothes tried to find Timofey Zhukov in the building of the Surgut City Court. The believer allegedly went to seek protection in the court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra, where he appealed, but was detained in Khanty-Mansiysk and taken away in an unknown direction.

Earlier, on February 15, 2019, at least 7 peaceful Jehovah's Witnesses were tortured in the building of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Surgut. A criminal case was opened against them and 14 other local believers under the article "organization and participation in an extremist organization." Reports of torture have attracted the attention of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation. Work is underway to establish the facts of what happened.

Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut

Case History
In February 2019, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against 18 men and 1 woman from Surgut (among them was a man mistaken for a Jehovah’s Witness). Their homes were searched. During the interrogations, 7 believers were subjected to violence. Artur Severinchik was sent to a pre-trial detention center for 29 days, and Yevgeny Fedin and Sergey Loginov - for 56. Timofey Zhukov was illegally placed in a psychiatric hospital for 14 days. Believers complained about the use of torture to the Investigative Committee, the ECHR and the Commissioner for Human Rights, a press conference was held with the participation of human rights defenders, but none of the security forces was ever brought to justice. In October 2021, the case materials were submitted to the court. The prosecutor requested imprisonment for the defendants for a term of 3 years and 3 months to 8.5 years in prison, and for Loginov - 9.5 years, which was the most severe request for punishment for believing in Jehovah God in modern Russia.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area
Locality:
Surgut
Suspected of:
delivering speeches, engaging in the Witnesses' public preaching activity with local members, meeting with Bible education volunteers and appointed congregation assistants, and having as one objective the organizing of appointed men in the Vzlyotnove Congregation
Court case number:
42002007709000023
Initiated:
February 11, 2019
Current case stage:
verdict did not take effect
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the city of Surgut of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.3 (1), 282.2 (2)
Court case number:
№ 1-27/2023 (1-130/2022; 1-1348/2021)
Court:
Сургутский городской суд
Judge:
Дмитрий Люпин
Case History
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