New Searches in Homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kemerovo Region. Man, 46, Under Arrest

On August 26, 2026, in Novokuznetsk, officers of the Investigative Committee conducted searches in at least five homes of believers and detained Maksim Zavyalov, 46, the father of a young child.

Two days later, the Tsentralnyy District Court of Novokuznetsk sent the believer to a pretrial detention center. The criminal case under the article for organizing the activity of an extremist organization is being handled by R. Ganbarov, investigator of the RF Investigative Committee.

The number of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Kemerovo Region who have faced criminal prosecution has reached 22. Guilty verdicts have entered into force in Prokopyevsk, Belovo, Berezovskiy, Kemerovo, Kaltan, and Tayga. In May 2026, another case was initiated in Kemerovo — it is at the stage of preliminary investigation.