Court of Appeal in Barnaul Upheld Andrey Danielyan's Sentence. He Will Spend Six Years in a Penal Colony for Believing in Jehovah God

On January 26, 2023, the Altai Regional Court upheld the verdict against Andrey Danielyan—six years in a penal colony. Reading and discussing the Bible was once again equated with extremism. The verdict has entered into force. The believer still insists on his innocence and can file a cassation appeal against the verdict.

In November last year, the court of first instance convicted the believer. “The court committed significant violations of the criminal procedural law and the right to defense,” the lawyer notes in the appeal. “The criminal law was applied incorrectly, the conclusions do not correspond to the actual circumstances of the case.”

The believer himself says: "The indictment does not quote... any statements attributed to me, or the dates, times and places of their expression." Thus, it remains unclear which exact passages from the convict's conversations  were considered extremist by the prosecution.

During the search, bank cards were seized from the Danielyans, as well as personal savings which he and his wife were saving to repair their country house. Some time later, the believer's property was seized. Later, during the interrogation, the investigator tried to put pressure on Andrey so that he would incriminate himself and cooperate with the investigation “for the sake of his wife’s well-being”.

The European Court clarified that “the joint study and discussion of liturgical texts by members of the religious group of Jehovah's Witnesses is a recognized form of practicing one's religion during worship and teaching.” The ECHR reiterated that the right to practice one's religion “in community with others” has always been considered an integral part of freedom of religion (§ 268).