The Third Jehovah's Witness From Crimea Will Go to a Colony for his Faith. The Appeal Confirmed the Harsh Sentence of Viktor Stashevskiy

On August 10, 2021, the Sevastopol City Court rejected Viktor Stashevskiy's appeal against the verdict. The panel of judges considered it a criminal activity to pray and talk together on biblical topics. The believer will have to serve 6.5 years in a general regime colony.

Stashevskiy continues to insist on his innocence. Although the verdict has entered into force, the believer has the right to appeal against it in cassation and in international instances.

On March 29, 2021, the judge of the Gagarinsk District Court of the city of Sevastopol, Pavel Kryllo, found Stashevskiy guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist community (part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Although the prosecutor requested a sentence of 7 years' imprisonment for Viktor, the court appointed the believer a slightly shorter term — 6.5 years in a general regime colony.

On June 4, 2019, searches were carried out in the house of Viktor and eight other believers, during which they were threatened with planting drugs, blackmailing relatives, and spoiling personal property. Then — the investigation and litigation, which lasted more than a year. For about two years the believer was under recognizance not to leave the place. After the announcement of the guilty verdict, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center.

Victor, 55, is a loving father of two daughters and the son of an elderly mother who needs constant care after a stroke. After serving 10 years in the Navy, Victor began to study the Bible. Years later, his love for Scripture brought him to the dock.

Speaking with the last word in the court of first instance, Stashevskiy noted: “Because of unfounded and false accusations, my family and I have been in constant tension for almost two years now: recognizance not to leave, interrogations, court hearings. I am regularly reminded that I am on trial for extremism, and I myself cannot forget about it for a minute. Although what do I have to do with him? None! There are no victims in my criminal case, there is not even a statement against me from anyone. There is nothing! But a charge has been brought forward, a serious charge. Unreasonable! "

However, the believer does not lose heart thanks to the support of fellow believers. He says: “My family is supported spiritually, emotionally and, when needed, financially. When the court hearings began, fellow believers came [to the courthouse] despite the heat and cold."

According to Viktor, despite accusations of incitement to hatred, it is his Christian beliefs that help him maintain respect for the state, despite the unfair persecution: "I pray for wisdom, peace of mind, so as not to become bitter."

The persecution of believers in Russia is based on the fact of their belonging to a particular religion, and not on evidence of extremist activity. Speaking in court, Viktor Stashevskiy emphasized: "Today is not the 1st century A. D., not the times of the medieval Inquisition, and not 1937, when the state dictated conditions to people — in which God they can believe and which one cannot."

In Crimea, 12 Jehovah's Witnesses have already been prosecuted for their faith, two of them — Sergey Filatov and Artem Gerasimov — are serving prison terms in a penal colony. Experts from the Crimean Human Rights Group previously stated that the imprisonment of Jehovah's Witnesses in Crimea is a complex of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and, accordingly, falls under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court.