Photo: Dennis Christensen outside the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel, 2009

Photo: Dennis Christensen outside the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel, 2009

Photo: Dennis Christensen outside the building of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel, 2009

Criminal Investigation and Trial

One of Jehovah's Witnesses, a Danish citizen, was arrested in the Oryol region for two months

Oryol Region

Respected in the circle of fellow believers, 44-year-old Dane Dennis Christensen was sent to the pre-trial detention center of the city of Orel for 2 months. He is charged with continuing the activities of an organization that was banned for extremism (Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He was arrested on May 25, 2017, during a joint Bible reading conducted by local Jehovah's Witnesses in a building on Zheleznodorozhnaya Street.

On the evening of May 25, at 7:30 p.m., the street near the building belonging to one of the believers began to fill with cars and buses with armed masked men - riot policemen. Under the direction of an FSB investigator, the group entered the building and blocked believers who were forbidden to touch phones and tablets. Document checks, searches and interrogations continued until the morning. Searches were conducted in a number of believers' homes.

On Friday, May 26, 2017, Judge Svetlana Naumova decided to choose a measure of restraint in the form of detention for 2 months against Dennis Christensen. Dennis's wife, Irina Christensen, as well as lawyers, intend to use all possible legal remedies. The Consulate of the Kingdom of Denmark was notified of the incident.

Case of Christensen in Oryol

Case History
Dennis Christensen is the first Jehovah’s Witness in modern Russia to be imprisoned only because of his faith. He was arrested in May 2017. The FSB accused the believer of organizing the activities of a banned organization on the basis of the testimony of a secret witness, theologian Oleg Kurdyumov from a local university, who kept covert audio and video recordings of conversations with Christensen about faith. There are no extremist statements or victims in the case. In 2019, the court sentenced Christensen to 6 years in prison. The believer was serving time in the Lgov colony. He repeatedly asked for the replacement of part of the unserved term with a fine. For the first time, the court granted the request, but the prosecutor’s office appealed this decision, and the prison administration threw the believer into a punishment cell on trumped-up charges. Christensen developed illnesses that prevented him from working in prison. On May 24, 2022, the believer was released after serving his sentence and was immediately deported to his homeland, Denmark.
Timeline

Persons in case

Christensen
Dennis

Criminal case

Region:
Oryol Region
Locality:
Oryol
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with the others he conducted religious services, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the court’s decision on the liquidation of the local organisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11707540001500164
Initiated:
May 23, 2017
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate of Russia for the Oryol Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-2/2019 (1-37/2018)
Court case number:
1-37/1
Considered by the Court of First Instance:
Zheleznodorozhniy District Court of the City of Oryol
Judge:
Aleksey Rudnev
Court of Appeal:
Орловский областной суд
Court of Appeal:
Льговский райсуд Курской области
Case History
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