This is the third time a family of believers from Crimea has been subjected to religious repression. Victor Ursu, 58, placed under house arrest after 2 weeks behind bars

 CRIMEA

This is the third time a family of believers from Crimea has been subjected to religious repression. Victor Ursu, 58, placed under house arrest after 2 weeks behind bars

August 10, 2023 Crimea

On July 28, 2023, security forces invaded the home of a family of believers in Dzhankoy. 58-year-old Victor Ursu was detained. On August 9, after 2 weeks of detention, the Dzhankoy District Court ruled that the man be placed under house arrest.

Elderly parents live with Victor. Alexander Ursu, 83, who was rehabilitated as a victim of Soviet repression , was subjected to rough treatment during a roundup of Jehovah's Witnesses in 2018.

The “inspection of the premises” (in fact, a search), in which 11 law enforcement officers in masks and with weapons took part, began at 6 o’clock in the morning. Victor and his wife were not allowed to dress for some time. The security forces, who refused to show identification cards, confiscated all electronic devices and storage media.

Victor Ursa was detained and taken to the temporary detention facility in Dzhankoy. The wife of the arrested person was not allowed to see her husband and give him the necessary things, food and medicine.

Immediately after the completion of operational actions, friends and acquaintances came to support the family. They helped put the house in order after the search, brought food and provided emotional support to the believers.

On August 7, Viktar Ursa was released from the temporary detention facility, but was immediately detained again. He was taken to the local department of the Investigative Committee, and then back to the detention center. On the same day, the investigator ruled to initiate a criminal case against Viktor Ursu under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In the 1940s, Alexander Ursu's father, uncle, and grandfather were sent to labor camps because they were Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1947, only his father returned from exile with a serious injury. In July 1949, the Ursu family, including 9-year-old Alexander, was loaded into cattle cars and sent along with thousands of other believers to an eternal settlement in Siberia.

Later, Alexander Ursu was repeatedly subjected to various forms of pressure from the state security agencies, including searches. On May 21, 1991, the believer was rehabilitated in accordance with the Decree "On additional measures to restore justice in relation to the victims of repression that took place in the period of the 1930-1940s and early 1950s."

Rehabilitation certificate No. 23 was issued to Alexander Urs on June 17, 1991. And in November 2018, when the believer was already 78 years old, security forces again broke into his house, pressed him against the wall and handcuffed him. Then searches in the homes of local believers took place as part of a criminal case against Sergei Filatov , who was subsequently sentenced to 6 years and is now serving a term for his belief in the colony.

Criminal case

Region:

Crimea

Locality:

Dzhankoy

Case number:

12302350007000066

Initiated:

August 7, 2023

Current stage of the case:

preliminary investigation

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2(1)