Jehovah's Witness follower in the Crimea dies after his trial
67-year-old Dzhanskoy resident Vitaly Arsenyuk, who was charged with illegal missionary activity, died of a heart attack after a local court hearing conducted by peace commissioner Alkhaz Tulpar against him.
The trial took place on June 27; Vitaly Arsenyuk died the same night, reports Krym.Realii.
The man was charged with the crime under part 4 of Article 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russia (carrying out missionary activity in violation of the requirements of the law).
According to the publication, Arsenyuk headed the local committee of "Jehovah's Witnesses" until the organization was banned in Russia and in the Russian-annexed Crimea.
Together with all believers, he conducted divine services, prayed, sang, read and discussed the Bible. In May, he was summoned several times to the Russian Prosecutor's Office; the first hearing was held on June 27, which had been postponed for the next month.
Earlier in June, it was reported that the military commission of the Bakhchysarai region of the annexed Crimea demanded that "Jehovah's Witness" conscripts provide a "document on their change of faith."
The British Encyclopedia defines "Jehovah's Witnesses" as adherents of a millenarian sect (the belief that Jesus Christ and Christians will rule the world for thousands of years).
In March, the activities of "Jehovah's Witnesses" were suspended in Russia, and in April the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the organization as extremist.