A top local government official allegedly accompanied a prominent
Russian Orthodox cleric and several dozen paramilitary Cossacks in an
attack on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk, Russia (Rostov
region), according to a November 2, 2009 report by the Sova
Information-Analytical Center. The previously unreported October 21
attack took place amidst growing official persecution of Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia.
According to the Sova report, the deputy head of the Novocherkassk
city government, A. V. Demchenko, reportedly took part in the attack,
allegedly led by Protoerey Oleg Dobrinsky from the local Russian
Orthodox diocese. The Cossacks physically expelled Jehovah's Witnesses
from a building they were using, and then started a petition drive
calling for a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk. The latest
round of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia began after a
September 2009 court ruling in the nearby city of Taganrog that
classified Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremists" and banned their
activity within city limits.