V. I. Golovina, senior investigator of the Unechsky Interdistrict Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Bryansk Region, initiates a criminal case against Yulia Globa on suspicion of participation in the activities of an extremist organization.
The search lasts more than two hours. Phone, postcards, letters and flash drives are seized from believers. Later, Yulia and her husband were interrogated in the investigation department.
Yulia Globa's case goes to the Unechsky District Court of the Bryansk Region. It will be considered by judge Tatyana Postavneva.
The hearing is attended by 25 people. Three prosecution witnesses are being questioned.
The first witness says that she met the defendant several years ago and speaks positively about her. When asked what organization Yulia is a member of, the woman replies that she does not know.
The grandmother of one of the defendant's students is also being questioned. The woman is satisfied with the result of Julia's work as a tutor. When asked what religion Yulia Globa professes, the witness replies that she does not know.
Witnesses for the prosecution are being questioned, including a clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church. "I absolutely can't say anything about a person I don't know. I don't know her personally and her activities," he says.
The next to be questioned is an expert, a professor at the Department of General History and International Relations. He confirms that Jehovah's Witnesses are "part of Christianity, the Christian tradition" and their religion is not prohibited in the Russian Federation.
He also agrees that the preaching of Jehovah's Witnesses is a worldwide practice and that they engage in this activity guided by the words of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible.
The defense is filing several motions. Among other things, she requests that the case file include a religious expert examination carried out by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on 15 April 1999, which at that time confirmed the right of Jehovah's Witnesses to practice their religion freely without finding anything dangerous to society. The court rejects this petition, stating that it is a photocopy, not the original.
The prosecutor requests a three-year suspended sentence for the believer.
"You have not had the opportunity to hear or read about the wonderful future of which the Bible is written. I am glad that I had the opportunity to talk about it," Yulia Globa makes her final statement.
At the same session, which lasts a total of 6.5 hours, the court convicts the believer.
