The believer in Oryol was left behind bars until at least November 23

An appeal against the arrest of a Jehovah's Witness in Oryol was unsuccessful. On September 28, 2017, the Oryol Regional Court, after hearings that took 2 days and lasted 7 hours, upheld the measure of restraint in the form of detention.

Believer Dennis Christensen was arrested on May 25, 2017 while reading the Bible with fellow believers. The arrest was a direct consequence of the liquidation of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Oryol. Although Dennis Christensen was never a founder or member of this organization, representatives of the investigation inaccurately told the court - and the court did not check this - that he was its "leader". He was groundlessly charged with continuing the activities of an organization that was liquidated for extremism.

Lawyers insist on the complete innocence of Dennis Christensen. The liquidation of a legal entity does not cancel the constitutional right of everyone to freedom of religion. Although Dennis Christensen is a Danish citizen, he lives in Oryol with his wife Irina, works in the field of installation construction. He was never a "foreign missionary" and came to Orel for personal reasons, not at the invitation of any organization.

The court refused to replace the detention of the believer in the Oryol pre-trial detention center with house arrest, even despite the official guarantees of the Royal Embassy of Denmark, which, for humanitarian reasons, gave assurances that it would not provide him with a new passport to replace the one seized by the investigators and would not assist him in leaving the Russian Federation.