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Raids and Criminal Cases for Faith in the Tula Region. Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses Gripped Another Region of Russia
Tula RegionOn April 13, 2021, law enforcement officers conducted searches at 17 addresses of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tula and the neighboring city of Kireevsk (Tula Region). Gurami Lobadze, 58, was placed under house arrest and a case was initiated against him for his faith under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of extremist activity).
According to preliminary data, cases have also been initiated against three other believers - 35-year-old Yevgeniy Godunov, 39-year-old Angela Putivskaya and 42-year-old Yuliya Popkova. All three are placed in the temporary detention facility.
Most of the rest of the believers were released after the interrogation. They are witnesses in criminal cases against the above-named four accused. It is reported that during the searches the FSB officers behaved correctly and tactfully.
Also, on April 13, searches were carried out for the first time against law-abiding believers in the Yaroslavl Region. During this day, the number of regions that launched the persecution of citizens for believing in Jehovah God increased by 2 and reached 64.