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Moscow court puts one of local leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses under house arrest

The court rejected the investigation’s request for the detention of the accused individual, a spokesperson told TASS

Moscow’s Presnensky District Court Mikhail Pochuyev/TASS, archive

Moscow’s Presnensky District Court

© Mikhail Pochuyev/TASS, archive

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Moscow’s Presnensky District Court has put one of the four chiefs of a Jehovah’s Witnesses center in Moscow under house arrest, a court spokesperson told TASS.

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Russian authorities take local Jehovah's Witnesses leaders into custody

"Moscow’s Presnensky District Court rejected the investigation’s request for the detention of Sergei Shatalov, who is facing charges under Article 282.2.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (arranging the activities of an extremist organization), and ruled to put him under house arrest until January 23, 2021," she said.

The investigation earlier requested the court to place defendants in the case in detention.

According to investigators, a group of individuals has been administering the organization’s religious unit in northeastern Moscow since June 2019. Clandestine meetings took place in an apartment, where followers studied religious literature and information from other sources, which promote the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and carried out other activities typical of the organization. It was also established that the group’s members recruited residents of Moscow and other Russian regions to join Jehovah's Witnesses, banned by a Russian Supreme Court ruling in April 2017.

A criminal case was opened under Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code.

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