One of Jehovah's Witnesses Anton Virich Was Arrested in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. He Was Taken to a Pre-trial Detention Center 5,000 Kilometers From the Place of Detention

 RUSSIA


One of Jehovah's Witnesses Anton Virich Was Arrested in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. He Was Taken to a Pre-trial Detention Center 5,000 Kilometers From the Place of Detention

July 28, 2023 Krasnodar Territory,   Primorye Territory


On July 11, 2023, a believer Anton Virich, 43, was detained in the city of Uzhur (Krasnoyarsk Territory). For 9 days, his location remained unknown. Friends found a man in the Spassk-Dalniy pre-trial detention center. He was accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.


The car in which Anton and his wife were traveling was stopped by the traffic police. The man was taken to the police station. There, Virich was told that since February 11, 2022, he had been under recognizance agreement, about which he knew nothing and had not received any notifications about it to his address. At the same time, the copy of the document shown to him did not indicate which particular settlement he could not leave. In the evening of the same day, Anton was taken to the Sharypovo police department, where he was searched and fingerprinted. Then the believer was placed in a special room for detainees for 48 hours.


Later, the FSB officers informed Anton that he was accused of a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, they forced him into a car and took him away in an unknown direction. As it turned out later, he was taken to Krasnoyarsk, then by plane to Khabarovsk, and after that—to Luchegorsk. Here, on July 14, the investigator drew up a protocol on detention and charged Virich, and the Pozharsky District Court of Primorye Territory decided to detain him for 30 days. On July 24, he was transferred to Detention centre No. 4 in Spassk-Dalniy.


Anton Virich is one of the defendants in the case against Yuriy Ponomarenko and other believers from Luchegorsk. In total, 22 criminal cases have been opened in Primorye Territory against 58 believers,, 10 of which are in penal colonies and pre-trial detention centers.


Case of Ponomarenko and others in Luchegorsk


Brief history of the case


In July 2021, Yuriy Ponomarenko's house was searched in Luchegorsk. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against him on suspicion of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. In November of the same year, as part of the Ponomarenko case, a new search was carried out - in the home of Oleg Sergeyev. He was charged under the same article. In March 2022, 2 more defendants appeared in the case. Andrei Lyakhov and Nikolai Dikhtyar were charged with participation in the activities of an extremist organization. In June 2022, the criminal case against the believers went to court.


Criminal case


Region:

Primorye Territory

Locality:

Luchegorsk

Case number:

12102050012000058

Initiated:

July 16, 2021

Current stage of the case:

trial in court of first instance

Investigating:

Investigation Department for the city of Dalnerechensk

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1), 282.2 (2)

Case number in court:

1-22/2023 (1-197/2022)

Court of First Instance:

Pozharsky District Court of Primorsky Krai

Judge of the Court of First Instance:

Mikhail Atroshko


In the photo: One of the detention centers in Primorye Territory


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