The news that came from the United States today could be historic not only for the religious community directly affected, but also for all persecuted religious groups in Russia, according to the official position of that country.
According to the BBC, the U.S. State Department has imposed sanctions against two employees of the Russian Investigative Committee in Surgut who are accused of torturing followers of the Jehovah’s Witness movement, which is banned in Russia. Specifically, it refers to the head of the regional investigative department, Vladimir Ermolaev, and the department’s chief investigator, Stepan Tkachev.
«The Department of State has reliable information that Ermolaev and Tkachev were involved in torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of members of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Russian city of Surgut,» the decision states.
According to the decision, these acts were committed by the aforementioned law enforcement officials during the «collection of evidence» as part of the criminal case they initiated against local Jehovah’s Witnesses under Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code («Organizing the activities of an extremist organization»).
In this regard, it should be recalled that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom previously included not only Jehovah’s Witnesses, against whom the decision to impose personal sanctions was made, and not only Protestants, who seem to be next in line, but also a number of Muslim groups. In this context, it would be logical to assume that one day personal sanctions will be imposed against Russian law enforcement officials responsible for the religious persecution of Muslims, including the use of the same methods of torture. Fortunately, there are many reasons for this, and unfortunately, their number is increasing.