More than 2,000 Homes of Jehovah's Witnesses Have Been Searched in the Last Six Years. See interactive map
Since the 2017 ban on Jehovah's Witnesses, more than 2,000 The homes of believers were searched for many hours, dividing the lives of entire families on before and after. Almost 400 people were thrown behind bars, The charges were brought against 730 believers. On the interactive map you can find information about where and when the searches took place, as well as their Quantity.
A search is a significant restriction of a person's constitutional right to privacy, personal and family secrets, honor and Good name. Although believers do not resist, many during searches are insulted, intimidated with weapons or special means, some beaten and even tortured.
Which regions are leading in terms of the number of searches? The map shows that the searches took place almost all over Russia - in 77 regions. The largest of them the number took place in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (119), in the Primorsky Territory (97), in Krasnodar Territory (92), Voronezh Region (79), Stavropol Region region (65), in the Rostov region (56), in the Chelyabinsk region (55), in Moscow (54), Trans-Baikal Territory (53), Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region district (50), in the Kemerovo region (47), in Tatarstan (46), in Khabarovsk Territory (44), in the Astrakhan Region (43), in the Kirov Region (41). On the Crimean peninsula, including Sevastopol, the Russian authorities conducted a total of 98 searches of Jehovah's Witnesses.
What were the most ambitious special operations against believers? Most Mass operations against believers, carried out in one day, were 64 searches in Voronezh (July 2020), 35 searches in Sochi (October 2019), 27 searches in Astrakhan (June 2020), 27 searches in Nizhny Novgorod (July 2019), 23 searches in Chita (February 2020), 23 searches in Krasnoyarsk (November 2018), 22 searches in Unecha and Novozybkov Bryansk region (June 2019), 22 searches in Birobidzhan (May 2018), 22 searches in Moscow (November 2020), 22 searches in Surgut (February 2019), 20 searches in Kirsanov Tambov region (December 2020).
The largest one-day special operations of the last 12 months were 17 searches in Vladivostok (March 2023), 16 searches in Simferopol on the Crimean peninsula (December 2022), 13 searches in Chelyabinsk (September 2022), 16 searches in Rybinsk Yaroslavl region (July 2022).
What searches were accompanied by beatings, ill-treatment and torture? An incomplete list of special operations, in which law enforcement officers used brute force against believers,includes searches in Omsk (July 2018), Razdolnoye, Primorsky Krai (July 2018), Surgut (February 2019), Chita (February 2020), Voronezh (July 2020), Moscow (February 2021), Irkutsk (October 2021), Samara (December 2021).
A special operation in Voronezh, which took place in July 2020, turned out to be the largest raid on Jehovah's Witnesses in modern history. The Investigative Committee reported, that more than 110 searches were conducted. From the capital of the region alone 64 searches were reported. Five believers reported bullying and torture on the part of the law enforcement officers. Ten people were sent to a pretrial detention center. Yuriy Galka and Anatoliy Yagupov managed to relay from the pretrial detention center that on the day of their detention confessions were demanded by means of torture, such as beatings and putting plastic bags over their heads. Beatings were also reported by Aleksandr Bokov and Dmitriy Katyrov and Aleksandr Korol.
A special operation in Irkutsk, which took place in October 2020, included smashing windows and doors in the homes of believers; some of the believers were beaten and tortured, for example, Anatoliy Razdobarov and Nikolay Merinov, as well as their wives. During a medical examination, multiple injuries on these and other believers were recorded. Andrey Tolmachev, the only son of his retired parents, was beaten unconscious right before their eyes during the search. He was placed in a pretrial detention center, where he has been already been for more than 600 days, as well as Seven other Jehovah's Witnesses from Irkutsk.
A special operation in Moscow, which took place in November 2020, was widely covered on Russian Television. Law enforcement officers in helmets and bulletproof vests, with machine guns broke down doors, threw believers on the floor, tied their hands behind their backs with handcuffs or cable ties. During one search, the law enforcement officers at first twisted the arms of a neighbor of the believers, but when they realized that they had made a mistake, they began breaking down the door to the apartment of the believers. The head of the family had his arms forced up to their limits behind him; they threw him to the floor and hit him on the back, while pushing him down with the butt of a machine gun. In another instance 49-year-old Vardan Zakaryan had his head smashed by law enforcement officers with the butt of a machine. The believer was hospitalized and was in the hospital under increased guard.
How many people in total have been prosecuted for their faith? In total, according to the data of June 8, 2023, over the past 6 years, 730 people, including 166 women, were prosecuted. Almost 25 % of all victims of criminal prosecution for their faith are people over 60 — 173 people. The oldest is 89-year-old Yelena Zayshchuk from Vladivostok. In May 2023, during a raid on believers in Novocheboksarsk (Chuvash Republic), local believer, Yuriy Yuskov, 85,learned of his criminal prosecution.
A review of the most large-scale and dramatic events of the first three years (2017-2020) related to searches can be found in the article "Beware, Doors are coming down! Number of searches in the homes of peaceful believers reaches 1,000 in 3 years."