An Appeal in Nizhny Novgorod Upheld Another Guilty Verdict for Faith. Maksim Zavrazhnov, 41, Was Given a Six Year Suspended Sentence

On December 5, 2022, the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court approved the sentence of Maksim Zavrazhnov—6-year suspended sentence for reading the Bible. The believer still insists on his innocence and has the right to appeal this decision in the cassation procedure.

Maksim Zavrazhnov never denied that he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses and along with his friends he read the Bible and prayed to God. In court, he stressed: "My goal was not to continue the activity of the liquidated legal entity, but to worship God."

During the appeal hearing, the believer drew attention to the fact that the decision of the Moscow District Court in Nizhny Novgorod violated at least 5 articles of the European Convention. As the defendant noted, the guilty verdict vividly demonstrated to him that if he does not renounce his religious views as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, then he will continue to be prosecuted. "The actual purpose of the court verdict is to violate [my] rights and force [me] to change my religion under pain of criminal prosecution," Maksim Zavrazhnov concluded.

In the Nizhny Novgorod region, 16 Jehovah's Witnesses faced persecution for their faith. Seven of them have already been given suspended sentences.

The judgment of the ECtHR of 7 June 2022, which fully acquitted Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, states: "The European Court concludes that the applicants were punished for acts that constituted the exercise of their right to freedom to practice their religion together with others" (§ 269).