Illustrative photo

Illustrative photo

Illustrative photo

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

Six More Searches Conducted at Homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Searches Affected Several Families

Khabarovsk Territory

On the evening of 25 May, 2023, searches were conducted at six addresses of residents who are Jehovah's Witnesses in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Presumably, a criminal case was initiated for their faith.

The searches started around 8 p.m. and lasted almost until midnight. The believers were communicating with each other via video conferencing at the time.

In Radion Shitov's apartment investigative actions were headed by Lieutenant of Justice A. Tereshchuk, investigator of the Investigative Committee for the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region. FSB officer Aleksey Krupnov and testifying witnesses also participated in the search. Shitov's personal notes "indicating membership in the Jehovah's Witnesses religion", according to law enforcement officers, electronic devices, media storage, and medical books from Russian publishers on alternatives to blood transfusions were seized. The next day he was summoned for interrogation as a suspect to the local branch of the Investigative Committee. The summons was issued by investigator Leonid Kuznetsov.

Thirty Jehovah's Witnesses are already being prosecuted for their peaceful religious beliefs in the Khabarovsk Territory, four of them in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

The Case of Kovadnev and Others in Komsomolsk-on-Amur

Case History
In May 2023, civilians in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, as well as the village of Khurba and the village of Molodezhniy, were subjected to night searches because of their religion. The investigation initiated a criminal case against 10 believers: Vasiliy Bondarev and his mother Irina, Sergey Sachnev and his wife Ulita, Nikolay Kovadnev, Ivan Nikitin, Mikhail Dorofeev, Radion Shitov, Marina Voytko and Svetlana Zharkova. They were charged with involvement in the activities of a banned organization. In 2024, the prosecutor’s office returned the case to the investigator twice. In October of the same year, it went to court. All the defendants were included in the Rosfinmonitoring list, which made it difficult for them to pay bills and dispose of their property. In October 2025, the court sentenced Dorofeev, Kovadnev and Shitov to 6 years of suspended sentence, and the Bondarevs, the Sachnevs, Zharkova, Voytko and Nikitin to 2 years of suspended sentence. Among the convicts are 5 people over 60.
Timeline

Persons in case

Bondarev
Vasiliy
Bondareva
Irina
Sachnev
Sergey
Sachneva
Ulita
Zharkova
Svetlana
Dorofeev
Mikhail
Kovadnev
Nikolay
Nikitin
Ivan
Shitov
Radion
Voytko
Marina

Criminal case

Region:
Khabarovsk Territory
Locality:
Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Suspected of:
"took organizational actions... by convening meetings... through Zoom videoconferencing, organizing religious presentations and meetings for worship" (from the decision to charge)
Court case number:
12302080009000073
Initiated:
May 4, 2023
Current case stage:
verdict did not take effect
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2), 282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-44/2025 (1-177/2024)
Court of First Instance:
Komsomolskiy District Court of the Khabarovsk Territory
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Aleksandr Sokolov
Case History
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