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New Searches in Kuzbass: Two Believers From Kaltan Town Were Detained
Kemerovo RegionOn the morning of May 2, 2021, searches were carried out in the small town of Kaltan, Kemerovo Region. Two men, 49-year-old Vitaliy Syrykh and 53-year-old Aleksandr Tsikunov, were detained and sent to a temporary detention center.
The security forces searched the homes of at least four local residents. The believers themselves were taken for interrogation, two of them were later released. Law enforcers took Aleksandr Tsikunov to the neighboring town of Osinniki, and Vitaliy Syrykh was taken to the regional center, Kemerovo, more than 250 km from his home. In the near future, the court will determine a preventive measure for them.
Update.
On May 4, 2021, the judge of the Kaltan District Court, Yevgeniy Vanyushin, sent Vitaliy Syrykh under house arrest until June 22, 2021. He is charged under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in extremist activities). On the same day, Judge Vanyushin placed Alexandr Tsikunov under house arrest until June 27, 2021. The believer is in the status of an accused under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of extremist activities).
Some details of the incident have become known. For example, the security forces burst into the houses of believers shouting: "On the floor, hands behind your back!" The searches were attended by the investigators of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Stepan Tyshchenko and Maksim Somik, the operative of the Center for Combating Extremism A. V. Dydenko and representatives of the FSB, accompanied by armed riot police. After 4 hours of searches in the homes of civilians, electronic devices, bank cards, personal records and photographs were seized. Law enforcers were looking for forbidden literature, namely "Holy Scripture - New World Translation." During the search at the Tsikunovs' house, a young grandson was present, who burst into tears from fear. Another family had three children at home, aged 4 to 8, who were very frightened by what was happening. As a result, due to stress, the family could not spend the night in their home, because they were afraid to stay at home.
Kaltan is already the sixth settlement in the region where peaceful believers are subjected to religious repression. Earlier, criminal cases for their faith were initiated against eight men from Kemerovo, Belovo, Berezovsky, Prokopyevsk and Taiga. Two, Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk, have already been convicted and are serving their sentences in a colony.
