The Pskov Prosecutor Asked to Imprison Gennadiy Shpakovskiy for Record 7.5 Years for Faith in Jehovah. The Verdict Will Be Announced on June 8

On June 1, 2020, 61-year-old Gennadiy Shpakovskiy, speaking at the last word in Pskov City Court, did not plead guilty to extremism and stressed that he is under the trial purely for his faith. The prosecutor asked for 7.5 years in a general regime colony and 1.5 years of freedom restrictions.

Referring to repeated decisions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council demanding a halt to repression against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, Gennadiy Shpakovskiy filed an application with the prosecutor's office and the court to stop the criminal case. Judge Galina Belik did not find it necessary to take this into account.

At the court hearing, the prosecutor asked for Gennadiy's longest term, which was announced in the courts during the religious persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in modern Russia - 7.5 years in a general regime colony with subsequent restriction of liberty of 1.5 years.

After the debate, the prosecutor's and Gennadiy Shpakovskiy's closing remarks, judge Belik left to deliver the verdict, which is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on June 8, 2020.

Gennadiy Shpakovskiy is charged with organizing and financing a banned organization (article 282. 2 (1) и 282. 3 (1) OF THE CRIMINAL CODE). The initiation of criminal proceedings against him became known 2 years ago after humiliating mass searches of believers in Pskov. Before that, he had been followed for several months, collecting "evidence". - evidence that he continues to read the Bible with believers and speak to other residents about God.