Jehovah's Witnesses in Yet Another City in the Rostov Region Are Facing Prosecution
Rostov RegionOn November 17, 2025, searches and interrogations were carried out in the homes of at least four believers from Bataysk. One was placed in a temporary detention facility and he was released 48 hours later.
Update.
According to clarified information, searches in the homes of believers began early in the morning on November 18. At least two families had elderly relatives at home, and in one case, there was also a minor child. After the searches, four men (two of them aged 60 and 64) were taken to the police station for questioning. Copies of documents were not given to the believers. The searches were authorized by the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don on November 13, 2025.
"Although the officers behaved correctly, my family and I are still anxious, have no appetite, and suffer from disturbed sleep," one of the believers said. "After the search, my granddaughter cried for two more days — she was very frightened."
Bataysk became the fifth city in the Rostov Region (along with Rostov, Taganrog, Novocherkassk and Gukovo) where Jehovah's Witnesses are being prosecuted for practicing their religion. This began in the region in 2011 in Taganrog, when the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against 16 of Jehovah's Witnesses for reading the Bible, singing and praying together.