Legal proceedings against the LRO began in April 2014, when the Samara Regional Prosecutor’s Office filed an application in the Samara Regional Court to liquidate it for “extremist activity.” Even before the regional court heard the case, the prosecutor’s office suspended the LRO and temporarily seized its property. Following this decision, and before the court trial had even begun, the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice entered the Samara LRO on a list of religious associations whose activity has been suspended for extremist activity. Then on May 29, 2014, Judge Shabayeva decided in favor of the prosecutor and ordered that the LRO be liquidated and its property confiscated.

This is not the first time that the Samara Regional Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges in an attempt to liquidate the Samara LRO. In 2009 the prosecutor’s office filed a claim that went to trial but later withdrew the charges. In the current case, the Samara law-enforcement authorities took a different approach to achieve their goal.