Armed National Guard personnel tortured 58-year-old Jehovah's Witness Mikhail Proshenkov with a stun gun while searching his home on 3 September. Proshenkov was one of five Jehovah's Witnesses arrested during early-morning raids on several households in Saratov. Investigators subsequently charged the five with organising the activities of a banned "extremist" organisation for continuing to meet for worship.

Proshenkov's wife has appealed to prosecutors and other state agencies to investigate the assault. It is unknown whether any criminal case has yet been opened (see below).

The National Guard (Rosgvardiya) – which reports to the President - typically provides armed support to investigators in such situations.

Forum 18 wrote to the Saratov Region branches of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and National Guard, asking:
- why they had considered it necessary to use physical force against Proshenkov;
- why officers had allegedly tortured him with a stun gun;
- and whether the personnel involved had been suspended or placed under investigation.
The Saratov Region FSB responded, telling Forum 18 to submit questions online to the FSB headquarters in Moscow. The Saratov Region National Guard did not respond (see below).

Forum 18 also wrote to the Saratov Region Investigative Committee, Saratov Region Prosecutor's Office, the General Prosecutor's Office, and both the federal and regional human rights commissioners asking:
- whether an investigation had been opened;
- and whether the officers who allegedly tortured Proshenkov had been suspended from duty and arrested.
Only the Saratov Region Human Rights Commissioner Nadezhda Sukhova responded, stating only that "your request has been declined" (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses have frequently reported experiencing physical assault, inhumane treatment, and threats during raids by Police, the Federal Security Service (FSB) or other state agencies. Officials are also known to have inflicted torture during some interrogations and in some prison system institutions (see below).

According to Jehovah's Witness lawyers, none of the perpetrators has been subject to criminal investigation or has faced any consequences, and no victim has received any form of compensation (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses describe the case of 60-year-old jailed Anna Safronova as a "particularly telling example" of "inhumane treatment". In 2024 and 2025, the correctional colony administration repeatedly placed Safronova in a punishment cell for "fabricated violations" and failed to give her proper treatment when she fell ill. Jehovah's Witnesses attributed this treatment to Safronova's refusal to wear an orange and black St George's ribbon (seen as a sign of support for the Russian Armed Forces). Jehovah's Witnesses believe they should remain politically neutral (see below).

In March 2025, Zelenokumsk prison officials forced Safronova to stand for ten hours in an empty, windowless room, under threat of a penalty if she sat on the floor. She suffered badly swollen legs after standing for so long, and was forced to stand again for thirteen hours the following day, during which she was permitted to use the toilet only once (see below).

Despite Safronova subsequently finding it hard to walk, the administration did not allow her to see a doctor, and she was only treated after her lawyer called an ambulance. Officials rejected her lawyer's request for the Interior Ministry to carry out a forensic medical examination and initiate a criminal case against the correctional colony administration (see below).

On 29 September, Russia formally withdrew from the Council of Europe's European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The European Union's European External Action Service called this "one more step in Russia's complete disengagement from its international commitments and clearly demonstrates Russia's disregard for the protection of human rights" (see below).

Banned and punished as "extremists"

Russia's Supreme Court declared the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre "extremist" and banned its activities in 2017. In the years since then, 845 people have faced prosecution for continuing to meet for prayer and Bible study (see forthcoming F18News article).

Raids on Jehovah's Witness homes have continued throughout 2025. These are usually led by the Investigative Committee or the Federal Security Service (FSB) – the agencies responsible for investigations of Jehovah's Witnesses for "continuing the activities of a banned extremist organisation" – and often involve armed troops of the National Guard (see forthcoming F18News article).

The consequences of prosecution can go beyond imprisonment or restrictions. At least four Jehovah's Witnesses who became Russian citizens by naturalisation have had their citizenship revoked because of their criminal convictions. Officials subsequently expelled three of these from Russia. Those with foreign citizenship, who have lived legally in Russia for decades, may be subject to deportation upon completion of their sentences (see forthcoming F18News article).

Jehovah's Witnesses are prosecuted because they continue to meet to pray, sing hymns, and read the Bible together. Some have also been charged with "financing extremist activity" (Criminal Code Article 282.3, Part 1), and "Inclination, recruitment or other involvement of a person in an extremist organisation" (Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1.1).

Similarly, Muslims who meet to study the writings of the late Turkish theologian Said Nursi are also prosecuted under the Extremism Law. They are accused of organising or participating in the activities of "Nurdzhular", which the Supreme Court banned as an "extremist" organisation in 2008. Muslims in Russia deny any such formal organisation ever existed.

Russia's obligations under Convention against Torture

Russia is a party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."

Under the Convention, Russia is obliged both to arrest any person suspected on good grounds of having committed, instigated or acquiesced to torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and also to try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature".

On 29 September 2025, Russia formally withdrew from the Council of Europe's European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which it had ratified in 1998.

In a statement on 30 September, the European Union's European External Action Service called this "one more step in Russia's complete disengagement from its international commitments and clearly demonstrates Russia's disregard for the protection of human rights".

Saratov: Officers torture Jehovah's Witness with stun gun

On the night of 3 and 4 September, Federal Security Service (FSB) investigators, accompanied by armed officers of the National Guard's Special Rapid Response Unit, raided five households in the city of Saratov and the village of Anastasino in Saratov Region.

The National Guard (Rosgvardiya) – which reports directly to the President - typically provides armed support to investigators in such situations.

At the home of Mikhail Nikolayevich Proshenkov (born 14 April 1967), armed men forced him face-down onto the floor, breaking his glasses in the process, relatives told the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses. When Proshenkov refused to give up the password to his computer, they threatened him and his son with violence. When he refused again, they gave him six shocks with a stun gun to his leg and abdomen.

After searching Proshenkov's home, investigators took him away for interrogation. They then placed him in custody, firstly in a temporary detention centre, then Saratov's Investigation Prison No. 1. "The stress of the search has caused him to develop tremors, and there are still marks from the stun gun on his body," the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses reported on 12 September.

Saratov: Officials fail to respond to torture allegations

On 10 September, Mikhail Proshenkov's wife, Irina Proshenkova, wrote to the Saratov Region branch of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), requesting an urgent medical examination for her husband. She also submitted complaints about the alleged torture to the Saratov Region Investigative Committee, Saratov Region Prosecutor's Office, the General Prosecutor's Office, and both the federal and regional human rights commissioners.

The Military Prosecutor's Office of Saratov Garrison and the Human Rights Commissioner for Saratov Region have since responded to Proshenkova. Both stated that prosecutors had passed on her complaint to the Investigative Committee's Military Investigative Department for Saratov Garrison, Jehovah's Witness lawyers told Forum 18 on 14 October.

Forum 18 wrote to all of these agencies on 29 September, asking:
- whether an investigation had been opened;
- and whether the officers who allegedly tortured Proshenkov had been suspended from duty and arrested.
Only the Saratov Region Human Rights Commissioner Nadezhda Sukhova responded, on 14 October, stating only that "your request has been declined".

Forum 18 also wrote to the Saratov Region branches of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and National Guard, asking:
- why they had considered it necessary to use physical force against Proshenkov;
- why officers had allegedly tortured him with a stun gun;
- and whether the personnel involved had been suspended or placed under investigation.
The regional FSB directed Forum 18 to submit an enquiry via a webform on the federal-level FSB website. Forum 18 did this on 8 October, but had no response by the afternoon of the working day in Moscow of 20 October. Forum 18 had also received no response by then from the National Guard in Saratov.

Saratov: FSB-launched case targets five

On 9 October, Saratov Regional Court upheld Mikhail Proshenkov's appeal against his detention and placed him instead under house arrest until 28 October.

Judge Artyom Anikanov concluded that, as Proshenkov has "no criminal record, a permanent place of residence, and strong social ties .. detention is, from the standpoint of reasonableness, excessive and not in accordance with the aims of criminal proceedings, the rule of respect for personal freedom, or the presumption of innocence", according to the written decision, published on the regional court's website.

Judge Anikanov nevertheless agreed with investigators that "there are sufficient grounds to believe that [Proshenkov] may abscond from the preliminary investigation". He therefore put Proshenkov under house arrest, barring him from contacting anyone else involved in the criminal case, sending or receiving letters, and using the phone and the internet.

Three fellow Jehovah's Witnesses who were arrested on the same night – Aleksey Sergeyevich Kazakov (born 21 February 1969), Filipp Valeryevich Ombysh (born 5 July 1985), and Aleksandr Nikolayevich Akelin (born 20 August 1966) – had already been transferred to house arrest on 24 September, according to Saratov Regional Court's website. A fifth man, Sergey Yuryevich Yefremov (born 24 September 1995), has been under house arrest since two days after the raids.

Senior Investigator Major A. Pridatko of the Saratov Region FSB opened a criminal case against the five men on 28 February 2025.

Investigators have since charged the five men under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1 ("Organisation of the activity of a social or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity").

No redress for Jehovah's Witnesses tortured during arrest or behind bars

Jehovah's Witnesses have frequently reported experiencing physical assault, inhumane treatment, and threats during raids by Police, the Federal Security Service (FSB) or other state agencies. Officials are also known to have inflicted torture during some interrogations and in some prison system institutions.

"In all publicly known cases of abuse, believers have been denied the initiation of criminal proceedings regarding acts of torture," Jehovah's Witness lawyers told Forum 18 on 14 October. Some victims have gone to court to challenge decisions not to prosecute the perpetrators, but unsuccessfully.

"No actual consequences have followed for those who carried out the torture. Not a single believer has received any form of compensation", the lawyers noted.

"A particularly telling example" of torture

"A particularly telling example", they added, is the case of Anna Arnoldovna Safronova (born 22 July 1965). She is serving a 6-year prison sentence after a court convicted her under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2 ("Participating in a banned extremist organisation") and Article 282.3, Part 1 ("Financing extremist activity").

Officials have subjected Safronova to "inhumane treatment" in her correctional colony, yet Interior Ministry officials have decided that this did not constitute a "significant violation of her rights" and refused to open a criminal case against the correctional colony administration.

Trusovsky District Court in Astrakhan handed Safronova the longest prison term yet given to a Jehovah's Witness woman on 25 January 2022. Between early July 2022 and the beginning of September 2025, she was held in Stavropol Region's Correctional Colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk.

In 2024 and 2025, the correctional colony administration repeatedly placed Safronova in a punishment cell for "fabricated violations" and failed to give her proper treatment when she fell ill, according to the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Association attributed this treatment to Safronova's refusal to wear an orange and black St George's ribbon (seen as a sign of support for the Russian Armed Forces). Jehovah's Witnesses believe they should remain politically neutral.

On 22 March 2025, officials forced Safronova to stand for ten hours in an empty, windowless room, under threat of a penalty if she sat on the floor.

"After receiving a penalty, a prisoner loses the right to early release, and the conditions of detention are also toughened," Safronova's lawyer commented to the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Safronova suffered badly swollen legs after standing for so long, and was forced to stand again for thirteen hours the following day, during which she was permitted to use the toilet only once. Despite her subsequently finding it hard to walk, the administration did not allow her to see a doctor, and she was only treated after her lawyer called an ambulance.

"When she asked why she was being tortured like this, she was told: ‘You haven't been tortured yet'," her lawyer said. The lawyer wrote to Interior Ministry officials in Zelenokumsk, asking that they carry out a forensic medical examination and initiate a criminal case against the correctional colony administration. Officials later rejected the request.

Officials transferred Safronova out of Correctional Colony No. 7 at the start of September 2025. As of late September, she was still in transit to another correctional colony, so far unknown. She is due to be released in August 2027. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia

For background information see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

Follow us on Bluesky @Forum18

Follow us on Facebook @Forum18NewsService

Follow us on Telegram @Forum18NewsService

Follow us on WhatsApp Forum 18

Follow us on X/Twitter @Forum_18

All Forum 18 material may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source.

All photographs that are not Forum 18's copyright are attributed to the copyright owner. If you reuse any photographs from Forum 18's website, you must seek permission for any reuse from the copyright owner or abide by the copyright terms the copyright owner has chosen.

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.