Photo: Sergey Klimov

Photo: Sergey Klimov

Photo: Sergey Klimov

Criminal trial

"Some people may not like preaching, but I have never acted out of hatred." Sergey Klimov's last word at the trial in Tomsk

Tomsk Region

What was Sergey Klimov talking about on November 5, 2019, when the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk sentenced him to 6 years in prison in a penal colony for believing in Jehovah God? The full text of his last word is given.

Sergey Klimov explains to the court the motives of his service to God, based on love and Christian duty to his neighbor, and not on extremist motives, which have not been proven by the prosecution. "God thinks it just to warn every man of his intentions concerning the earth. manifestation of extremism will hide this information from people, thereby depriving them of the opportunity to make their own informed choice," the defendant explains.

Go to document

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