The Case of Burik in Kerch

Senior investigator of the Investigative Committee for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol A. A. Farimov initiates a criminal case against Vitaliy Burik under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The investigation interpreted Vitaliy's peaceful confession of faith as "active actions of an organizational nature aimed at continuing the illegal activities of the extremist organization LRO Jehovah's Witnesses of Kerch, banned by the court, expressed in the organization of propaganda meetings."

Judge of the Kiev District Court of Simferopol Denis Didenko authorizes a search of Vitaliy Burik's house.

The homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kerch are searched, after which they are interrogated and released.

Burik was placed in a temporary detention center and charged with organizing the activities of an extremist organization.

The Kiev District Court of the city of Simferopol places Burik under house arrest.

Vitaliy Burik files an appeal against the search to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea. He states: "I ceased my participation in the activities of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kerch back in March 2017. However, being a deeply religious person, I did not stop professing my faith in Jehovah God, which was not and could not be prohibited by the court." The believer also notes that the search was difficult for his minor daughter, who is on disability.

Vitaliy Burik is included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring.

Vitaliy Burik, who is under house arrest, is taken to hospital with a high temperature. Despite the emergency admission, a representative of the Investigative Committee arrives at the hospital to hand him the indictment.

The case of Vitaliy Burik is submitted to the Kerch City Court (Crimea) for consideration by Judge Aleksandr Kovalev.

Secret witnesses are being interrogated: a woman and a man who attended meetings for worship before 2017. Both give similar testimony: they do not know the defendant personally and have not heard any extremist statements from him or at meetings for worship in general. At the request of the prosecutor, their written preliminary testimony is read out in court. They differ in many respects from those expressed in court and are almost identical to each other.

For example, in court, a woman, in response to a prosecutor's question about whether Jehovah's Witnesses had any organizational structure, says: "To be honest, I... I was a parishioner, so I don't know anything like that." Nevertheless, from her affidavit it is read: "Burik Vitaly Anatolyevich, living in the city of Kerch... was an elder of the said religious organization and, accordingly, was a member of the leadership of the organization."

When asked by the prosecutor whether the second witness attended meetings of meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses or meetings of the LRO of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Kerch, the man answers: "I will tell the truth that I do not know what difference there is, I only say that I went to the building that I indicated near the five-story buildings, and I do not know what it refers to there." But, according to the affidavit of this witness, partially read out later in court, he previously said the following: "[In 2017] I decided to leave the LRO of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Kerch."

The prosecutor asks the court to sentence the believer to 8 years in a penal colony.

The trial enters its final stage unexpectedly. After the questioning of the FSB officer, it turns out that the religious scholar did not appear in court for questioning. Burik files a motion for a second religious expert study, but the judge immediately proceeds to interrogating the defendant, then to the closing arguments, after which he allows the believer only 15 minutes to prepare for his final statement. The defense is actually deprived of the opportunity to present its evidence.