Security forces have carried out searches targeting Jehovah’s Witnesses in Saratov region (a federal subject in southern European Russia).

On 3 and 4 September, law enforcement officers carried out searches at at least five addresses of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Saratov and the village of Anastasino. This was reported by the portal “Jehovah’s Witnesses. Legal situation in Russia.”

Five believers aged between 29 and 58 were detained as part of a new criminal case.

The raid began at around six in the evening. Law enforcement officers arrived at the home of one of the believers at 1:30am. FSB officers seized electronic devices, data storage media and personal notes from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

After the searches, Mikhail Proshenkov, Aleksey Kazakov, Aleksandr Akelin, Filipp Obmysh and Sergey Yefremov, as well as their wives and children, were taken in for questioning. On 5 September, the Frunzensky District Court sent Yefremov to house arrest, while the others detained were remanded in pre-trial detention.