There were a series of detentions of Jehovah's Witnesses in January 2010 in different regions of Russia.

In January 2010, there were a number of occasions in which Jehovah's Witnesses were detained: In January 2010 in the village of Novoutkinsk (Sverdlovskaya Oblast), policeman arrived at the home of several Jehovah's Witnesses. According to the believers, the police behaved very rudely and did not produce any documents. The policeman questioned the Jehovah's Witnesses and seized religious material from them. At the request of the police, the Jehovah's Witness who the police had specifically wanted to see signed a blank piece of paper that the police were using as an official document. The policemen claim that they needed this signature in order to later write a list of the confiscated material that they had seized on the document. Later, the policemen returned to the home of the Jehovah's Witnesses for further interrogation.

In early January 2010 in the city of Rossosh (Voronezh Oblast), policemen detained two Jehovah's Witnesses. The police advised the believers to leave the town for good and threatened to otherwise hold them legally accountable for :interfering in people's private lives.;

On January 5, 2010 in Barnaul (Alayskiy Kray) Jehovah's Witnesses were talking about the Bible with the tenants of a local home. The believers were detained and taken to the police station in response to a complaint that had been received regarding the distribution of extremist materials. The Jehovah's Witnesses were told to stop preaching in the house where they had been preaching when they were detained.

On January 8 2010 in Izhevsk (the Republic of Udmurt), two Jehovah's Witnesses were speaking to people about their religious convictions. The believers were detained and taken to the police station.

On January 14 2010, the Pochepskaya District Court reversed a decision calling for the administrative arrest of two Jehovah's Witnesses. Despite this reversal, the prosecutor informed the believers' lawyer that the Jehovah's Witnesses will be summoned for questioning because it had been discovered that they had extremist literature.

On January 16 2010 in Gryazovets (Vologodskaya Region), two Jehovah's Witnesses were speaking with people about the Bible when they were detained by policeman and taken to the police station. First, police inspected and verified the documents of the detained believers. The police interrogated, fingerprinted, photographed, and seized religious literature from the believers.

On January 16 2010 in the village Bolshaya Orlovka (Rostovskaya Oblast), Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained by policemen.. The police realized that the believers had religious literature. In response, they both demanded to see the literature and collected copies of the passports of all the Jehovah's Witnesses. The police proposed that the Jehovah's Witnesses come with them to the police station, and one of the believers did so. The police, citing the instructions of the public prosecutor and Russia's list of literature that is recognized as extremist, stated that the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses is banned. Then the police checked the detainee's personal religious literature against the list of extremist materials and took a declaration from him. After this, the police asked him to no longer distribute this literature in the region and, as the basis behind this request, said that :the purpose of the literature is to ruin Russia.;

On January 21 2010 in the village Pindushi (Republic of Karelia), two Jehovah's Witnesses were speaking to people about their religious convictions when they were detained by policemen who were passing by. The policemen took the believers to the police station without specifying any reasons for the action. A written statement was taken from the detainees. The policemen made copies of the detainees' passports and fingerprinted them against their will. According to information provided by the Jehovah's Witnesses, the police accused the believers of theft and illegal activity. They also mistreated and exerted pressure on the detainees. They were interested in whether one of the detainees had religious literature in his home. After realizing that he did, they produced an order from the head of the RUVD regarding the conduction of investigative-operational measures for the purposes of inspecting the apartment of the detainee in order to seize extremist literature associated with the illegal activity of the Jehovah's Witness. Despite the objection of the detainee and the fact that the order had not been signed by the public prosecutor, the policemen conducted the search in the detainee's apartment. Referring to their right to take anything that they deem suspicious, they seized religious literature from the apartment.

On January 21 2010 in Novokubiyshevsk (Samara region), two Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained and taken to the police station. The policemen recorded information about their passports and questioned them.

On January 22 2010 in Zarinsk (Altaiskiy Kray), two Jehovah's Witnesses went to see a woman who had previously expressed a desire to talk with them about the Bible. After this visit, they were detained by an employee of the FSB of Zarinsk. The FSB employee sent them to the local department of the FSB. Documents certifying the detainees' personal identities were checked by the FSB. Then, the FSB questioned the detainees and seized their personal belongings.

On January 22 2010 in Khabarovsk (Bologodskaya Oblast), two Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained. They were then interrogated at the police department.

On January 22 2010 in Dzerzhinsk (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast), two Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained by policemen. At the police station, the police photographed, fingerprinted, and took a statement from the believers.

On January 23 2010 in Sol-Lletsk (Orenburgskaya Oblast), two Jehovah's Witnesses were speaking with people about their religious convictions when a policeman approached them and asked them to present their documents. After they produced copies of their passports, one of the Jehovah's Witnesses called her husband. The policemen then detained the two believers, along with the husband, at the police station. They then questioned the detainees. No official documents were created in reference to the incident.

On January 26 2010 in Dzerzinsk (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast), two Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained. They were talking about the bible with a man who turned out to be a Russian police officer and called for an official police car in order to take the believers to the police station. At the police station, the detainees were fingerprinted and copies of their passports were made.

On January 27 2010 in Dverzhinsk (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) two female Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained. A policeman asked one of the women to produce her documents. According to the Jehovah's Witnesses, he was rude to them and called fellow policemen. Even though the believers had their passports with them, they were taken to the police station and fingerprinted against their will. The policemen also photographed the believers and created a document authorizing the seizure of their religious literature. Their basis for holding the believers was that the Jehovah's Witness organization is forbidden. On the next day, policemen came to see one of the Jehovah's Witnesses and ordered that she hand over the literature indicated in the document. The Jehovah's Witness obeyed the order and handed over the literature.

On January 30 2010 in Sterlitamak (the Republic of Bashkortostan), a group of three Jehovah's Witnesses who were preaching were detained by armed policemen. The detainees were taken to the city police station and, without filing a report, the policemen took recorded information from their passports and photographed them. According to information provided by the detained, the policemen exerted pressure on and condemned one of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Jehova's Witnesses materials. Translated by J. Freeman.