A Court in the City of Vladivostok Sentenced Dmitriy Barmakin to Eight Years in a Penal Colony—His Acquittal Had Been Overturned

The retrial of Dmitry Barmakin's case in the Pervorechensky District Court of Vladivostok resulted in a guilty verdict and an eight-year prison term—a decision rendered by Judge Larisa Smolenkova on April 27, 2023. A year and a half prior, her colleague from the same court ruled that the believer be acquitted with the right to rehabilitation.

Barmakin became the first one of Jehovah's Witnesses since 2017 to be acquitted of the charges under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In November 2021, the court concluded that “Barmakin never carried out extremist activities; he practiced the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which included meeting with fellow believers and discussing his beliefs." This decision was a logical consequence of the ruling of the Supreme Court Plenum of the Russian Federation, issued a month earlier. However, six months later, the appellate court overturned the acquittal and returned the case to the first instance for consideration by a new composition of the court. This time the trial was held behind closed doors. The prosecutor again requested that the believer serve nine years in a penal colony.

After the verdict, Barmakin, age 48, was taken into custody in the courtroom. As an additional punishment, the judge decided to restrict the believer's freedom for one year after serving the prison sentence.

Friends support Dmitriy Barmakin, who was arrested in the courtroom, with applause. April 27, 2023

Dmitriy Barmakin has been defending his innocence for almost five years. “The prosecution made typical actions of believers look like some kind of spy games,” he said in his final statement. “So, according to the prosecution, a typical peaceful religious meeting and a discussion with friends on Bible topics constitutes continuation of the activities of a banned organization. Simple phrases like 'turn down the volume on your mobile device' indicate a conspiracy. Discussions in an apartment indicate a desire to hide from law enforcement agencies.”

Dmitriy's wife, Yelena, is also being prosecuted under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for her beliefs. The same court—the Pervorechensky Court of the city of Vladivostok—is currently considering a case against her and several local believers.

Barmakin is the fifth believer in Russia to receive such a severe sentence for his convictions. Aleksey Berchuk from Blagoveshchensk and Rustam Diarov, Yevgeniy Ivanov, and Sergey Klikunov from Astrakhan had been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Aleksandr Verkhovskiy, director of the information and analytical center Sova, drew attention to the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, saying: “The growing campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses is terrifying, but it also gives a chance that this time someone will finally come to their senses and think. Still, the ‘Witnesses’ too obviously do not pose a threat to security, and at the same time they are just as clearly impossible to ‘eradicate,’ since more than hundred thousand people cannot be imprisoned or forced out of the country, and Jehovah’s Witnesses did not deviate from their faith even in the worst times."