Photo: pogrom in the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Izhevsk, May 2017

Legal Victories

In Udmurtia, a sentence was passed for a pogrom committed on the basis of hatred

Udmurtia

Roman Khairullin, a 37-year-old Izhevsk resident, who in 2017 committed a pogrom in the building where Jehovah's Witnesses had previously held services, sentenced the magistrate's court to 11 months of suspended imprisonment, to pay compensation for damages and legal costs in total.

On the night of May 20, 2017, in the wake of the aggression against believers that swept across Russia after the liquidation of all 396 registered Jehovah's Witnesses organizations, Roman Khairullin entered a building on Krasnoposselskaya Street in Izhevsk through a broken window. With a heavy metal object, he destroyed furniture, a false ceiling, interior doors, audio and video equipment, tore out metal electrical panels, and activated fire extinguishers. The man explained his barbaric actions by a negative attitude towards the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The actions of Roman Khairullin were recorded by CCTV cameras.