An Omsk court sentenced a 48-year-old Jehovah's Witness to a three-year sentence in a correctional facility. His wife and two other women received a suspended sentence

On November 30, 2020 Pervomaiskiy District Court of Omsk sentenced Sergey Polyakov to 3 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony, he was taken into custody. Another 3 women were given a suspended sentence by the court: Anastasia Polyakova 2 years 6 months, Gaukhar Bektemirova 2 years and 3 months, Dinara Dyusekeeva 2 years.

The verdict has not entered into force, believers will appeal against it. Sergey Polyakov will wait for the appeal while in jail.

Sergey Polyakov and his wife Anastasia, a radiophysicist and lawyer, led a usual life until June 2018, when a criminal case was initiated against them. About two weeks later, in July, their house was searched, during which Sergei was severely beaten. The spouses were later sent to a detention center where they spent 154 days in solitary confinement - Anastasia was the first woman Jehovah's Witness in the history of modern Russia to be imprisoned for her faith. The couple spent another 91 days under house arrest. On July 13, 2018, they filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights.

The veterinary doctor Dinara Dyusekeeva and her friend Gaukhar Bektemirova were under investigation about a year after the Polyakovs. In the summer of 2019, a case was also filed against them, which was connected to the case of Anastasia and Sergei, and the believers were under obligation to appear.

The women were charged with involvement, while Sergei Polyakov was charged with organizing and financing a banned religious organization. This is how the investigator qualified the fact that the believers talked to others about God and gathered for religious service together.

During the trial, none of the interviewed witnesses confirmed that the defendants had caused them any harm or made threats, although some witnesses criticized the religious views of believers.

Among the evidence of their "guilt" were 20 biblical cartoons and the Bible in different languages. As in other cases against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, there are no victims in criminal cases against the Polyakovs, Dyusekeeva or Bektemirova.

The defendants themselves, testifying, explained that they "exercised their constitutional right to spread their religious beliefs" because "Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation applies to all believers. They categorically rejected their involvement in extremism.

As Sergey Polyakov stated in his last word, the history of Jehovah's Witnesses persecution in the Soviet Union proved that believers do not threaten society and respect the authorities. His wife Anastasia brought arguments to the judge proving that she and her husband and fellow believers are judged solely for their faith in Jehovah, not for crimes.

"My desire for peace is connected not only with my non-participation in military conflicts, but also with my rejection of violence against other people," Gauhar Bektemirova said. "I am confident in my rightness. My position is shared by many reasonable people around the world," Dinara Dyusekeeva noted in her testimony. On November 10, the believer made a last word in the process, emphasizing: "Neither I nor my friends have committed any crime.

Judge Denis Pershukevich ignored inconsistencies in the case and the arguments of the believers, admitting all 4 defendants guilty of extremism. Sergey Polyakov will have to go to the colony for his faith. The court decided to include 5 months of believer's stay in the pre-trial detention center and 3 months under house arrest as the time served. The sentence did not come into force, the believers will appeal against it.

Russian human rights organizations, as well as the international community, consider the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia to be illegitimate.