In Karelia, the appeal upheld the verdict of Alexei Smelov. The believer will pay a fine for exercising his constitutional right

On September 27, 2022, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia approved the verdict of a lower court to Aleksey Smelov — he must pay a fine of 400,000 rubles for believing in Jehovah God. The believer considers it unjust and insists on his complete innocence. He has the right to file a cassation appeal.

Aleksey Smelov faced criminal prosecution in July 2019, when a wave of house raids of Jehovah's Witnesses swept through the region of Karelia. The case against his fellow believers from Petrozavodsk is now at the trial stage.

The search, seizure of personal belongings, interrogation — all this was a shock to the Smelov family. The accusation of the head of the family of extremism brought financial difficulties. Aleksey said: “Since I was included in the list of extremists, my bank card was blocked. For five months, we did not receive a salary in full, but only a small part, which was enough to pay for utilities.”

The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia caused a wide resonance. In June 2022, the ECHR recognized the accusations of representatives of this religion of extremism as groundless. The Washington Post commented on the European Court ruling: “The European court’s ruling will probably have only symbolic impact; Russia has been ejected from the council [of Europe] … But the ruling is a testament to what happens when innocent people are stripped of their rights and dignity by a police state.”