Witnesses in case against believers in Kalmykia reject investigators’ version

None of the witnesses questioned at a public prosecutor’s request confirmed that Jehovah’s Witnesses* from Kalmykia Kishta Tutunova, Tsagan Khalgaeva, and Yekaterina Menkova voiced any extremist statements. That was reported by an advocate of Kishta Tutunova. The court watched videos of conversations secretly made by law enforcers in which women were discussing biblical quotes between conversations about the weather and cooking recipes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in March 2023, a court in Elista placed Jehovah’s Witness* Kishta Tutinova under house arrest on the charge of organizing extremist activities. This is the first criminal case in Kalmykia against Jehovah’s Witnesses* after the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia to liquidate their religious organizations.

According to the investigators’ version, Kishta Tutinova “was holding religious online meetings.” The 63-year-old woman spent more than four months under house arrest. Two more local residents, 46-year-old Tsagan Khalgaeva and 42-year-old Yekaterina Menkova, were accused in December 2023 of participating in the activities of an extremist organization.

Advocate Yevgenia Smelova notes that what is happening in court “causes bewilderment.” “None of the questioned witnesses ever heard from my client, as well as from other defendants, any statements of an extremist nature. Kishta Tutinova is characterized as a kind, gentle, positive person ... The video recordings contain conversations about the weather, health, cooking recipes, together with a discussion of biblical quotes and thoughts ... Which, in fact, is not prohibited neither by the Russian Constitution nor by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2017,” the advocate emphasizes.

*396 Russian organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses are recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia are banned by court's decision.