Photo: Sergey Klimov with his wife Yulia

Photo: Sergey Klimov with his wife Yulia

Photo: Sergey Klimov with his wife Yulia

Criminal trial

The Tomsk Prosecutor's Office requested 7 years in prison for Sergey Klimov because of his religion

Tomsk Region

On October 21, 2019, the hearing in the case of Sergey Klimov, who is accused of extremism only because he did not stop practicing his religion after the decision of the Supreme Court, continued in Tomsk. The prosecutor's office believes that this "crime" should be punishable by 7 years in prison.

The believer is being tried under Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). Speaking in the debate in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk, the prosecutor said that all evidence of Klimov's "extremist activities" had been found, for example, making speeches and singing songs. At the same time, the prosecutor admitted that the defendant's legal involvement in the banned religious organization has not been established, however, according to the prosecution, there are signs indicating his role as a "de facto leader" and "spiritual leader".

The prosecutor's office requested for the defendant a sentence of 7 years in prison with serving in a penal colony of general regime, plus another year and a half of restriction of freedom. It is also proposed to ban educational activities and post any materials on the Internet for 8 years.

The next court hearing is scheduled for October 28, after which the verdict is expected.

Sergey Klimov has been in pre-trial detention for more than a year, since June 3, 2018.

On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses or restrict the right of citizens to practice it, which was then further clarified by the Government of the Russian Federation.

The Case of Klimov in Tomsk

Case History
Sergey Klimov, from the Volgograd Region, ended up in a pretrial detention center after a series of raids on the homes of believers in Tomsk. Before detaining Sergey, the special services followed him and his acquaintances for about 1 year and sent informants to him with recording equipment. Such diligence was justified by law enforcement officers as means to combat a “serious crime,” which turned out to be Sergey’s Christian way of life and his conversations about the Bible with other people. In November 2019, the court sentenced Sergey to 6 years in a penal colony. The verdict was upheld by the regional court in February 2020 and by the court of cassation in January 2022. The believer served his sentence in Astrakhan Penal Colony No. 8. In July 2023, Sergey was released from the penal colony. He is prohibited from engaging in educational activity and from publishing on the Internet for 5 years; his freedom is also restricted for 1 year.
Timeline

Persons in case

Klimov
Sergey

Criminal case

Region:
Tomsk Region
Locality:
Tomsk
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with others he conducted religious meetings for worship, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the decision of the RF Supreme Court on the liquidation of all 396 registered organisations of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11802690013000085
Initiated:
June 3, 2018
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Tomsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-417/2019
Court of First Instance:
Oktyabrskiy District Court of the City of Tomsk
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Dmitriy Borisov
Court of Appeal:
Tomsk Regional Court
Case History
Back to top