Senior investigator Dmitry Yankin initiates a criminal case against Irina Savkina under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The ruling states that Savkina, "realizing her belonging to [the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses], continued the activities of an extremist organization in the course of many (at least four) secret meetings held on the Internet ... in the form of a collective religious assembly."
The investigation considers illegal the discussion of religious materials, the singing of songs and joint prayers.
Irina Savkina is included in the Rosfinmonitoring list.
The criminal case of Irina Savkina goes to the Birobidzhan District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region and is assigned to Judge Olga Klyuchikova.
The consideration of the case on its merits begins. Irina Savkina, expressing her attitude to the charges, notes that there is not a single quote from her statements in the case, "which could indicate the presence of hateful motives and extremist goals." Also, the believer wants to defend herself – the court accepts her refusal of an appointed lawyer. The judge grants her motion. The prosecutor reads out the transcript of a meeting for worship discussing Bible questions.
The court is reviewing video recordings of meetings for worship. Irina Savkina asks that the court require the state prosecutor to specify which fragments of the recordings, in his opinion, contain extremist materials. The believer explains: "This will help me defend myself against the charge brought against me." The prosecutor is unable to specify in which episodes such materials are present.
During her questioning, Irina Savkina rejects the charge brought against her: “To resume means to start something again after a break. But I did not start, did not stop, did not resume, and did not continue the activity of any liquidated organization. Neither before 2017 nor after.” Irina describes the criminal prosecution using a metaphor: “They found dirty, stained clothes, brought them to court, and now want to put them on me, saying that they are mine and that they are my size. I would very much like these clothes to find their real owner — I do not wish to wear them myself.”
Irina states that there was “no extremism and could not have been any” in her actions. According to her, faith in God helped her break free from a destructive past and rid herself of rudeness and cruelty. To confirm this, she refers to one of her characteristics from the center for children’s creativity, where she worked for 12 years. It says: “…She did not allow conflicts, did not have harmful habits, and was repeatedly awarded bonuses for impeccable performance of her duties.”