Criminal Investigation and Trial

Everyone in Kirov left the pre-trial detention center except Andrzej Oniszczuk

Kirov Region

On March 28, 2019, the Pervomaiskiy District Court of Kirov refused to extend the investigator's detention of Yevgeny Suvorkov. He was placed under house arrest. Thus, out of 5 believers arrested in Kirov on October 9, 2018 for "singing biblical songs together... study of religious literature, the so-called Holy Scripture (Bible)", only 50-year-old Andrzej Oniszczuk, a citizen of the Republic of Poland living in Russia, has remained behind bars for 176 days.

Vladimir Korobeynikov was the first to be placed under house arrest after 73 days in pre-trial detention. This happened on December 20, 2018. On February 2, 2019, the court placed Andrey Suvorkov and Maksim Khalturin under house arrest. Both spent 117 days behind bars.

Religious persecution in Kirov continues. On March 26, 2019, at least 10 new searches of believers' homes took place in the city. A criminal case has been initiated against 3 people, which is being investigated by G. Malykh, an investigator of the first department for the investigation of especially important cases of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Kirov region. He also opened a case against Andrzej Oniszczuk and others in October 2018.

Case of Oniszczuk and Others in Kirov

Case History
In October 2018, searches of believers were carried out in Kirov. A criminal case under extremist articles was initiated against seven local residents, five of them were taken into custody, including Polish citizen Andrzej Oniszczuk, who had been in captivity for almost a year. His fellow believers spent 3 to 11 months in jail and another 6 to 9 months under house arrest. The men were included in the Rosfinmonitoring list. One of the accused, Yuriy Geraskov, died of a long illness a week before the trial. In January 2021, court hearings began. In June 2022, the believers were given suspended sentences ranging from 2.5 to 6.5 years. Yuriy Geraskov was also found guilty of extremism, but the criminal case was dismissed due to his death. The appellate court upheld the verdict against the believers.
Timeline

Persons in case

Suvorkov
Andrey
Suvorkov
Yevgeniy
Geraskov
Yuriy
Khalturin
Maksim
Korobeynikov
Vladimir
Oniszczuk
Andrzej
Vasilyev
Vladimir

Criminal case

Region:
Kirov Region
Locality:
Kirov
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, “they organised meetings of followers and participants of the association [Jehovah’s Witnesses] in different flats, performing actions characteristic of this association: singing Bible songs together, improving skills for missionary activity, as well as studying religious literature, the so-called ‘Holy Scriptures’ (Bible), which is on the Federal List of Extremist Materials and contains the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses”.
Court case number:
11802330022000044
Initiated:
October 3, 2018
Current case stage:
The verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kirov Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.3 (1), 282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-2/2022 (1-5/2021; 1-123/2020)
Court of First Instance:
Первомайский районный суд Кирова
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Тимур Юсупов
Case History