“Activists” of the Crimean cell of a banned religious organization will appear in court

CrimeaPRESS reports:

The Main Investigation Department of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol has completed a criminal investigation against six residents of the peninsula. Depending on what they did, they are accused of organizing, participating in and financing the activities of a religious organization banned in Russia (Part 1 of Article 282.2, Part 2 of Article 282.2, Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

In 2017, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation decided to liquidate the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization and its regional branches in connection with their extremist activities. The organization is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, as the investigation established, from April 2017 to November 2022, a resident of Armyansk, being the organizer of the Crimean cell of the banned religious organization Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, continued to support the activities of adherents on the peninsula. In particular, under his leadership, five activists of the “Simferopol-Youth” meeting held ideological meetings at which banned literature and methods of its distribution were discussed, donations were collected, reporting was generated, and funds were distributed for the needs of the cell and the organization “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” ( prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation — ed.).

The criminal activities of members of a banned religious organization were identified and suppressed by officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, GUEBiPK and VOG of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia with the force support of special forces of the FSB and the Russian Guard.— reported the Investigative Committee.

During the investigation of the criminal case in the city of Simferopol and the Simferopol region, more than 30 searches were carried out, over 250 witnesses were questioned, a significant amount of religious literature with signs of extremist content, computer equipment, cash, documentation and business journals were seized, indicating the illegal activities of the cell and collection donations.

The criminal investigation has been completed. The materials were sent to the court for consideration on the merits.

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