“Detained Jehovah’s Witness from Guyana Forced to Sleep on Detention Center Floor” was a headline that outraged and baffled me. ‘Racists will turn his detention into a living hell,’ I thought to myself. ‘They can torture anyone, but it’s twice as hard for a black man in our prisons. How did he end up in Moscow? Where did he become a Witness? Will the Guyanese government be able to free him?’ I was able to ask his wife Tatyana Pike all the questions that concerned me. She had prepared well for the interview and had given it a lot of forethought, but the conversation was still very emotional. I understood that the wound was fresh – her husband is in custody, there is one blow after another, and the future is frightening, but Tatyana confidently continued telling her story, even through her tears.

She fell in love with kindness

– The first is a romantic question. How did you meet Sean?

– At a meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow. He amazed me with his kindness and openness. Although I was very young at the time, I realized that he was a kindhearted person. He had a special nobility. And I loved him with all my heart.

– How lovely. When I was young, I dreamed of marrying an African American. I studied American literature at university, and I loved that type of good-natured hero.

– He was always very sincere. I was thinking about how we would walk down the street and an elderly woman would ask for money. He never gave money; he would go to the nearest store and bring her groceries. Not long ago we were in a supermarket parking lot, and he asked me to buy some groceries for an elderly woman. But I forgot; then I went back to the store and bought them. The elderly woman waited.

– I understand him very well: when I see an elderly person counting coins at the check-out, I want to pay for them and then buy them a meal.

So you fell in love with kindness.

– Yes. He has the ability to make sacrifices for others, and a special kind of devotion that you can sense, like a fragrance.

– Very poetically said. Tell me about Guyana.

– Sean was born in the capital, Georgetown; he grew up in a simple family, with a stepfather who was not very kind to him. He knows what it’s like to be an unwanted child in a family. And being a black man, he knows firsthand what it is like to feel like a second-class citizen, and to get hostile looks and to be the target of disparaging comments. So he never allows himself to look down on other people.

– How did Sean end up in Russia?

– Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America, it’s part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Schoolchildren take a standardized exam, and the results are sent to England. The best students are placed in good schools and given scholarships to study abroad. Sean was offered a choice of several countries, and he chose Russia. In the movies, Russia was often depicted in a negative light, as an aggressive country, and he had a keen sense of justice. He decided to see for himself if Russia is that brutal. And now he has seen it for himself.

– How ironic! Russia is like a poor old woman he decided to help, and in return she punched him in the head.

– He was an excellent student here; he graduated with honors from the RUDN (Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia). Even years later his professors remember him with great admiration: Such an intelligent, good boy!

According to the contract with Guyana, Sean was supposed to return to his home country after his graduation.

Learning from Guyana

– Did he become a Witness in Guyana or in Moscow?

In Moscow, but in Guyana his aunt’s large family are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and not just the first generation. He often played with his cousins but didn’t get involved in their religious life. His mother was Catholic; they went to church on Sundays and lived the rest of the time as usual. Nevertheless, respect for the Bible was instilled in him from childhood. He always read the Bible.

– Are there many Jehovah’s Witnesses in Guyana?

– There are 3,400 – that’s a lot for a small country of 790,000 people. They’ve been there for over a hundred years. It’s a well-known and respected denomination there. When Sean returned to his country as a Witness, at his workplace he was regarded as especially trustworthy; they assigned him to work on contract bidding and financial matters, knowing that his conscience would serve him well.

– Guyana has a great diversity of ethnicities. Is there any racism?

– Guyana is called the “country of many waters” and the “country of many cultures.” There are five ethno-racial groups in the country: Amerindians – the indigenous population; Indo-Guyanese, who were brought in as hired labor; Afro-Guyanese, who were brought in as slaves; Chinese, who came themselves; and various Europeans. All these ethnicities are blended; there are many mixed marriages.

Some are prejudiced, but the population in general is mixed, even in the villages. And although the country is in South America, the president of Guyana is of Indian origin, from an Indo-Guyanese Muslim family. This shows a high level of respect for ethnic diversity.

– How did you adapt there? Moving to Guyana was a big change in your life.

– A very emotional question for me.

– I love the history of emotions. Tell me if you can.

– I was emotionally overwhelmed by everything: the new smells, colors, different clothes – everything was different. You look at fruits and vegetables and you don’t know what they are, how they are eaten or cooked. I gradually immersed myself in it, everything was out of the ordinary. They welcomed me very warmly: they gave me food, drinks, and treats, bought me clothes, treated my insect bites, and walked with me through the streets.

It was my first trip abroad. For the first time I saw Jehovah’s Witnesses in another country. I remember the first time I met them: I hardly understood anything, but I felt I was in my own Kingdom Hall among dear friends. The unity in thought, human qualities, and teaching – everything felt familiar.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are a large international family, they live in 239 countries, there are 8,700,000 of them worldwide. They are people to whom your skin color, and your social, cultural, or religious background is not important. They are people trying to live by the principles of love and kindness.

– That’s impressive!

– These aren’t just words; it’s our life. I experienced this unity so deeply in those circumstances that I was actually in shock for a time. Once again, I was convinced that Jehovah’s Witnesses are one people, living as one family.

– That’s probably a model for uniting all mankind.

– It was very important to me at the time. In 2001, we had our wedding in Guyana – it was modest, without my relatives or friends – no one was able to come.

– Was it easy for Sean to find work in his home country?

– Yes, he worked for the Department of Transport as a road rehabilitation engineer. Not long ago, he and I watched a video of the opening of a bridge that Sean had built. There he was, sitting next to the president.

– The president of Guyana should demand that Russia release Sean. Are they doing anything to defend him?

– He sat next to the president, but that doesn’t mean anything. We never had anything to do with the president, parties in power, or politics. We haven’t asked the Guyanese authorities for help. We are trying to defend ourselves.

– That’s a shame. In the Dennis Christensen case, my hope that Denmark would rescue its citizen from a Russian prison was not realized. Now I’m hoping on Guyana, but I don’t see any support there either. Are Sean’s relatives trying to organize support for him?

– His relatives are very worried and call me often. Sean’s father has lived in New York for a long time. Sean has relatives in the UK and Canada and classmates living all over the world.

– They should organize an international society to support Sean Pike and ask Queen Elizabeth II for help, since Guyana is a member of the British Commonwealth.

There was such a tradition in the West during the Soviet era – forming support groups in defense of various political prisoners. You could start an international campaign, since he has relatives and friends in different countries.

– Thank you for your sympathy and desire to help, but Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t usually use such methods, because a defense campaign can become political, and we don’t participate in politics; we remain neutral.

We went back to help others

– The fatal question: why did you return to Russia?

– At that time, we were at a fork in the road. We could have gone to the United States, where we had relatives, but Sean said that if we left, it shouldn’t be for the sake of material prosperity; we should go where we could help others. I agreed with him. When I was eight months pregnant, we returned to Moscow, where in January 2008, Veronika Pike was born.

– What kind of reception did you get from your homeland?

– It was a difficult change in our life. In Guyana, Sean was a respected man with a good job and a well-ordered life. But in Russia he couldn’t find steady work for about three years because he didn’t have citizenship. However, he didn’t just fold his arms and sit there; he took jobs in construction and taught English. In 2010, he got a job with a European company, where he advanced from manager to head of a project group.

– How did you view Russia when you returned?

– I returned to Russia as a different person – a cultural hybrid. Eight years in Guyana associating with people of different cultures had broadened my awareness and enriched me so much that mentally I was somewhere between the two countries. I had become a more flexible person and had started smiling more often. Sean and I had learned to overcome cultural differences, largely thanks to the Bible, which helped us to appreciate each other’s personality and to respect the other person as someone special.

– Cross-cultural awareness is common among bilingual and bicultural people. How do your daughters find it, living in two cultures? How old are they now?

– Nika will be 14 in January and Sofia is 8. They love having family in another country. They communicate a lot with their grandfather and other relatives, mainly virtually, however.

How can I help you, skinhead?

– A somewhat tactless question, but an important one. In my opinion, Russia is a racist country. Have you encountered racism?

– Sean believed that the Soviet Union taught respect for different ethnic groups and that this teaching – that all nationalities are equal – continued after the collapse of the USSR. He saw this as Russia’s advantage over the United States, with its history of slavery and racism.

– He idealized the Soviet Union, as I understand it. Did he succumb to Soviet propaganda? Did he believe the Western leftists who are in love with communism? After all, in the USSR entire peoples were deported – in other words, they carried out ethnic cleansing.

– I think it was more due to his character. He is basically very kind to people and always treated Russians with kindness. He spoke warmly of his teachers. If he saw faults in people, he attributed them to the way the younger generation was raised.

He fell in love with Russian culture for its hospitable spirit, openness, willingness to entertain, to hug, for its maternal spirit. He arrived when he was 18 and was grateful for the warm welcome. This is the part of the Russian soul that he fell in love with.

– Just as you were touched by the warm welcome to Guyana. Mutual hospitality. So, there were no clashes with racists here?

– There were. We ran into skinheads. One day, on a train, we were surrounded by a group of men with shaved heads. They started insulting him, “you blacks come here, take our jobs, and steal our girls.” Sean was very noble: “If you need help finding work, or with something else – if you have no money, and you have a problem, I’ll try to help you. Tell me how I can help you.”

– What an amazing response!

– Patient and very kind. I added, “guys, this man is my fiancé, the man I love. When you treat him like that, you’re disrespecting your sister. So, please, behave yourselves.”

– Did they leave?

– Yes, they left.

– Whew! Was that the only incident?

– On the subway they often bullied us; guys would push him or fake a shot from a gun with their finger to his head. But later we stopped taking the subway and drove our car, and there were fewer problems.

Men in Black

– We’ve come to the most difficult period in your life. Psychologists advise us to talk about traumatic events – shall we talk about it?

– Yes, let’s talk about it.

– They came to conduct a search on August 25, 2021. It was a hot summer day…

– Before seven in the morning, the bell rang and there was a knock on the door. I went into the hallway, and on the intercom monitor I saw a crowd of men in black. I realized it was the police. I couldn’t open the door right away, and I quickly told Sean to get dressed.

They burst in with their camera on. I immediately asked them politely to remain calm, as there were children asleep in the apartment. I tried to keep them from making any sudden movements or doing anything violent. They charged into the kitchen, and they read us the search warrant there.

– Did the girls wake up?

– Before I opened the door, I went into their room and asked the older one, Nika, to get into bed with the younger one and not to leave the room. I told the police that I wouldn’t allow them to disturb the children, who shouldn’t be traumatized. When I went into the children’s room, they would go in with me, but they didn’t go in on their own. My older daughter is diabetic; she’s on insulin, which causes certain difficulties.

– Stress is especially dangerous for her. Poor girl! How long did the search last?

– Six and a half hours. They poked into every square inch; they pulled everything out, emptied the cupboards, and turned everything upside down. As they looked through Sean’s many diplomas and certificates, one of them asked in amazement, “How much education do you have?” Sean graciously replied, “I think you have as much or more than I do.”

They didn’t find anything. And I don’t know what they were looking for. They found a Bible and took it to the senior officer. A Bible! I said, “So what? It’s the Contemporary Translation. The Bible isn’t banned.”

“And what are you looking for?” They replied, “We’re here, so there must be a good reason.” They poured out the laundry detergent and emptied the soil out of our flowerpots.

– They checked the soil in the flowerpots?

– Yes. The search ended with the seizure of our phones, tablets, all our technology, and our bank cards. I was hoping they would just leave since they didn’t find anything. But they asked my husband to follow them, which came as a complete surprise to me.

– What happened next?

– They called and told me to bring Sean’s things. I packed a bag and went to the Investigative Committee. The interrogation was going on, and someone in the office was shouting. “Are they beating him?” – “No, they’re not beating him. He won’t sign the protocols.” He wouldn’t sign because he didn’t agree with what was written in the protocol. The investigator came out to go to the bathroom, and I went into the office with rolls and yogurt. Sean hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.

The next time I saw my husband was in court. It wasn’t a court; it was a circus. No evidence was presented, and the charge sounded horrendous: Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC.¹Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC: “Organizing the activity of a public or religious association or other organization, regarding which a court has issued a final decision to liquidate or ban its activity in connection with extremist activity.”They extended his detention until October 24, 2021; then they extended it twice more, and now – until February 24, with the same absurd reasoning, that the investigation needs time to decipher the audio recordings. Who can prevent them from doing that?

At the trial, I realized that we had been under surveillance for two years, roughly between 2017 and 2019. Then the surveillance was stopped, and the materials were shelved. In July 2021, they pulled them out and gave the case a number; but then they again stopped working on it for a month until August. Question: if they were dealing with a dangerous criminal who needed to be held in a detention center, why such pauses in the case?

Give me back my daddy!

– How are you preparing for the trial?

The lawyer is working on it. We were able to put together documents in Sean’s defense: character references from work, documents about the children… From these you can see that he’s an ordinary man who has a family, a job, a mortgage. There are no signs of extremist activity.

– How is Veronika holding up under this injustice and cruelty?

– It’s hard for her. She is at a vulnerable age, and she is a very sensitive girl. She has started to keep a diary and writes things for herself; she has become withdrawn.

– It’s good that she knows how to pour out her feelings on paper.

– And our younger daughter, Sofia, drew a picture and wrote underneath, “Give me back my daddy!” and we took it to the investigator.

– Did you take a photo of the drawing?

– No, unfortunately, I was so upset that I forgot. But I have another of her drawings with a letter to her Daddy. I will send it to you.

– Thank you. In early September reports were published that Sean was being forced to sleep on the floor at the detention center.

– That was a humiliating form of pressure on Sean, an attempt to break him.

– Did he refer to Article 51 of the Constitution?

– Yes. But they tried to make him talk. Beds were available in the detention center, but they decided to make him sleep on the floor. Then they transferred him several times from cell to cell. There were a variety of conditions and cellmates.

– He is in Butyrka detention center? Do you take parcels there?

– I usually send parcels by mail, they get there in one piece. Three times a week I order food from the store in the jail. Sean sends letters through the FSIN service (Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia). We write to each other often.

He has also received about 1,500 letters from fellow believers and sympathizers in 50 different countries.

In our family, Sean has always been very involved with the children – their homework, music school, vacations, and medical treatment. Even now he finds opportunities to instruct them. He writes letters to each daughter separately, gives them assignments, and reflects on life with them. He mailed us big envelopes with letters and postcards, and photographs of animals, birds, and nature. What he gets from his friends he saves for us.

Sean also gives my phone number and email to various friends and asks them to support us. And they write to me. Almost every day I get letters from all over the world with words of support and encouragement: from the Baltic States, Holland, England, Poland, Kazakhstan, Japan, Australia, Canada, America, Cameroon, and Russia. We receive parcels with gifts for our children from people I have never met.

This, too, is proof that my husband is a kind and loving man who is being falsely accused of a terrible crime. I understand that a monstrous legal mistake has been made, and it must be corrected.

– Absolutely. How is Sean feeling now? How is his health?

– He had Covid in October; he spent two weeks in the “Matrosskaya Tishina” (Sailors’ Rest) prison hospital, then they took him back to “Butyrka.”

– Does he have any complications?

– His blood pressure often goes up – sometimes to 180, and he develops hypertension. I was able to get a blood pressure monitor and some medicine to him.

– Please give him my best wishes for a speedy recovery and release.

– Thank you! I’ll tell him.

The Ruling of the RF Supreme Court Plenum of October 28, 2021

I would like to speak separately about the background of the recent ruling of the RF Supreme Court Plenum. In December 2018, the President expressed bewilderment over the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses and gave a recommendation to the Supreme Court to provide an overview of judicial practice in cases involving religious organizations. However, arrests and imprisonments continued, torture was used, and harsh sentences were rendered. Two years later, in 2020, the President instructed the Supreme Court to prepare clarifications “based on the results of the overview of judicial practice in cases involving violations of the legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and religious associations.”

On October 28, 2021, the RF Supreme Court Plenum issued a ruling with the important clarification that individual or joint worship or religious rites performed by followers of a religious organization previously declared extremist by the court, are not a crime, but are the exercising of the constitutional right to practice one’s religion.

– Unfortunately, the majority of the courts still believe that a meeting for worship is a continuation of the activity of one or another organization, as a banned legal entity. However, since this ruling there have been two acquittals – the case of Dmitriy Barmakin in Vladivostok and the case of Konstantin Bazhenov, his wife Snezhana Bazhenova, and Vera Zolotova in Kamchatka.

– There is hope. And how can you not practice your faith? Can you ban a person from loving? If you have a husband and you love him, your love will be expressed in some way. You will live together – and in the same way, believers meet together to express their love for God.

If you have chosen this man to be your husband, of course you consider him to be superior to all other men. That’s a natural consequence. And the belief that your religion is the true one – and that this is what makes it superior – is an expression of love, not hatred.

People always associate with those who share common interests. Not only believers, but also classmates, colleagues, and friends.

– You and I understand that. I wish judges would get the point.

– The concepts of “extremist” and “Christian” are incompatible; they are poles apart. To achieve his goals, an extremist professes radical views and incites or resorts to violence. It is interesting that we are accused of extremism, when in fact they are using extremist methods against us: violence, torture, and false witnesses. Today Christ would probably also be accused of extremism under all points of Article 282.

– You’ve discerned the fine points of the law very well. Are you a lawyer?

– No, life has forced me to figure them out. I was trained as a nurse, and later I became a cosmetologist.

– Now you have to take on the role of the wife of a prisoner of conscience.

– Yes. The first court session on the preventive measure was a huge blow for me. It was the first time I had seen my husband in handcuffs and in a cage. I was horrified to hear the terrible accusations of inciting national and religious discord and other similar crimes that are difficult to pronounce. It was very painful to see this good, noble man, who is a wonderful husband and father, under a hail of horrendous accusations. My mind refused to accept that slander as reality. It was impossible to accept it. It was the theater of the absurd, or a nightmare.

– How long did it take you to recover after the trial?

– A long time. From the very first days, I stopped eating, and I lost weight quickly.

– And you have the girls, and Veronika needs special care.

– Two children, and the questions, “Where’s Daddy?” and an apartment that had been turned into a dump. How could I cope? I did get help from my friends right away; they took the girls to their place. For three days I couldn’t clean anything up, I was just stepping over everything that was scattered and strewn around, collecting documents. Then a friend came and stayed with me for two months; she helped me to tidy things up and pulled me out of my stress. People helped with groceries. Little by little, I began to adjust to my new circumstances. Sean was also in a daze: one day you’re a project manager – then bam! you’re on the floor in a detention center.

– The persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses has been going on for years, but I think it is impossible to prepare for it.

– I had often thought about how I would react if we were searched, and what Sean’s reaction would be. When it finally happened, when those people burst into the apartment, we were very calm; we offered them drinks and food. I prayed, and I felt clearly God’s support. Sean felt the same.

An invitation to the sunrise

– What can you say about the investigator?

– We had two investigators. I tried to speak with both of them and tell them about the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses and about Operation North. I realized that the people who were handling this case were just doing their job, that they had very little information about the faith of the people they were persecuting; and that they had no desire to broaden their outlook.

The first investigator allowed us phone calls for one month – November. It took me a long time to figure out how the phone system worked, and once I figured it out, they weren’t selling the special card that was needed. Finally, at the end of November, Sean called. They let us talk for 15 minutes three times in a row – a total of 45 minutes of warmth, the voice of my beloved. He had waited a long time for that call and had thought the day before about how he could best provide support for us if we were able to talk. We both tried to strengthen each other.

He said that he was being persecuted for his faith, that Bible prophecies were being fulfilled before his eyes, that he was innocent, and that his innocence gave him strength. As a Christian, he understands this chain of events.

That was our only phone call. The second investigator wouldn’t allow us to call each other: “Why does he need phone calls? You might give Sean some secret information.” I replied that all my secrets were about raising our daughters, about how to help them survive being separated from their father and the slander against him.

I often think about how to instill in them kindness, generosity, empathy, loyalty, and faith – the essence of the Christian personality.

I marvel at how man has been given the ability to climb the moral ladder, and endure suffering and pain to help others. All my life I have been in awe of the realization of just how God created man. And I am happy that my husband is a true Christian, a man of high moral character.

– Have you thought about the possibility that your family might be deported? You have dual citizenship.

– Of course, I’ve thought about that. My home is where my family is. I came to understand this truth thanks to the many times I have moved. Now I’m ready for any change, as long as the whole family is together, including our sweet corgi Oliver, whom we all adore.

Recently I received a touching letter from Sean. He called it “An Invitation to the Sunrise.”

Good morning, my love.

I got up and I’m sitting on the bench by the river talking to our Father. Then I want to watch the sunrise. Come when you get up. I think you’ll make it in time for the sunrise. I brought a blanket for you, and a thermos with coffee, and your favorite cookies. Oliver is with me. You know he likes to play with the bunnies in the morning. Then he comes and lies down at my feet. Come. I am waiting for you. You’ll sit down next to me, I’ll put my arm around you; you’ll put your head on my shoulder and wrap yourself in the blanket, with hot coffee in your hand. How beautiful it is to watch the sunrise with you. This time is precious, our own personal time together, with hearts full of love for each other and gratitude to our Father for his miracle of the sunrise. Of course, I know Sofia will look for us – she’ll guess that we are here; soon she will come, and without apologizing she will sit down between us so that we will hug her and wrap her in our love. The sun has already risen above the horizon, and its warm rays envelop us. The smell of buttered toast reaches us and tells us that Nika is already up and is making breakfast for everyone. It’s time to go back to our new home. Nika’s getting ready to go on a hike with some sisters, and we have a whole day ahead of us in the new world that God has promised.

– What a touching letter. Sean Pike the Poet.

– That’s our romantic “extremist.” I really want this interview to also show that we are ordinary, sincere believers for whom the word of God is not just empty words, but a way of life. And we prove that by our actions, despite persecution and unjust treatment. It is much easier to turn a blind eye to everything, to keep quiet and live as most people do.

For us, God is not an abstract being; he is a real person, our Father and Friend, our Creator, whose words we pay close attention to. In our religion, people don’t just believe, they change who they are. It’s a lot of work, painstaking work. And we realize that our ability to change ourselves is a great act of confidence in us by the Creator. There are many experiences of how Witnesses changed their lives after turning to God.

Charging people who are incapable of acting against their conscience with extremism? Jehovah’s Witnesses are highly regarded as honest, decent, well-intentioned people, who have steadfastly endured persecution and who came through Nazi and Soviet concentration camps with honor.

Russia is the only country where they are accused of extremism. The only one! A country where Christianity is dominant, bans a Christian denomination and one of the translations of the Bible. It’s incomprehensible.

That’s pretty much it. I want to scream, and to explain the obvious over and over again. I hope that people who have an open mind, who are not hypnotized by propaganda, and those in the judicial legal system can raise their voices against this injustice and defend the truth.

January 13, 2022

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  Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC: “Organizing the activity of a public or religious association or other organization, regarding which a court has issued a final decision to liquidate or ban its activity in connection with extremist activity.” ↩︎