Criminal trial

Sergey Klimov's speech at the pleadings in Tomsk

Tomsk Region

Speaking on October 30, 2019 in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk, the defendant Sergey Klimov explained why the charges against him were unfounded and biased. Read the full text of his speech.

A day earlier, his lawyer spoke at the hearing.

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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
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