Armed Russian OMON a officers physically assaulted Brother and Sister Anatoly and Greta Razdobarov and Brother and Sister Nikolay and Liliya Merinov on Monday, October 4, 2021. These heinous attacks occurred when brigades of law enforcement officers raided 12 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city of Irkutsk. The officers detained several other brothers during the raids.

At 6:00 a.m., officers forced their way into Anatoly and Greta’s home. The officers dragged Greta by her hair into another room, handcuffed her with her arms behind her back, and repeatedly hit her.

Meanwhile, Anatoly was forced to the floor, handcuffed with his arms behind his back, and kicked in the head and abdomen. Officers grabbed his handcuffed hands and wrenched him up off the ground. Anatoly writhed in pain as the weight of his body hyperextended his shoulders. Officers beat his hands while demanding that he incriminate himself and divulge information about the brothers. Officers further tortured him by trying to force a glass bottle into his buttocks. The raid on the Razdobarov’s home lasted over eight hours.

When officers burst into the home of Nikolay and Liliya Merinov, they first hit Nikolay in the face with a heavy, blunt object. He fell to the floor and lost consciousness. Upon regaining consciousness, he found an officer sitting on top of him, beating him. The officer broke Nikolay’s front teeth. Liliya was dragged out of bed by her hair and handcuffed. The officers then repeatedly physically assaulted her before eventually allowing her to get properly dressed.

Such an egregious abuse of authority is punishable under the Russian Criminal Code. Additionally, the Russian Federation is subject to several international bodies that protect individuals from torture. Therefore, these couples will pursue all available legal remedies, both domestic and international, for these crimes.

In the two days following the raids, six brothers were court ordered to pretrial detention: Yaroslav Kalin, Sergey Kosteev, Nikolay Martynov, Mikhail Moish, Aleksey Solnechny, and Andrey Tolmachev. Some 300 brothers and sisters traveled to the court to peacefully support their fellow believers who suffered such injustice.

To all our dear brothers and sisters in Russia, we echo the inspired words of Paul to the Thessalonians: “We ourselves take pride in you among the congregations of God because of your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the hardships that you are suffering.”—2 Thessalonians 1:4.