Photo: Dennis Christensen at the Oryol Railway Court (January 2019)

Photo: Dennis Christensen at the Oryol Railway Court (January 2019)

Photo: Dennis Christensen at the Oryol Railway Court (January 2019)

Criminal trial

Announcement: Christensen's appeal hearing will take place on May 7, 2019

Oryol Region

The Oryol Regional Court has set a hearing date for the appeal against the harsh sentence handed down to Dennis Christensen, one of Jehovah's Witnesses from Denmark. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison because of his religion. The investigation regarded this as a continuation of the activities of an extremist organization.

Dennis Christensen was arrested by the FSB in May 2017. After 622 days in pre-trial detention, on February 6, 2019, he was found guilty under Article 282.2 (1) of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison to be served in a general regime colony.

The decision, which was made by Alexey Rudnev, a judge of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of the city of Orel, was appealed, therefore it did not enter into force. The appeal (text) was filed by the defense on February 18, 2019. Later, on March 18, the defense filed an additional appeal (text).

Dennis Christensen is currently in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in the Oryol region. Letters of support can be sent to him. The history of this criminal prosecution and its consequences is described in the 11-minute video report "The Christensen Case. A faith that is higher than prison walls."

The hearing will begin at 14:00 in the Oryol Regional Court at 6 Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, Orel.

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:
1-37/1
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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