Court in Yugorsk Acquitted Jehovah's Witnesses Ivan Sorokin and Andrey Zhukov

On August 7, 2023, Yuriy Klyupa, judge of the Yugorskiy District Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area—Yugra  completed the consideration of the case of Ivan Sorokin and Andrey Zhukov and acquitted them. The believers were found not guilty of extremism. The prosecutor requested the court to sentence Sorokin to 9 years, and Zhukov —8.5 years in a penal colony.

In August 2020, a series of searches took place in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. A total of 16 people were interrogated; Sorokin and Zhukov were sent to a temporary detention facility, and a day later they were released under a recognizance agreement. A criminal case was initiated against them under Parts 1 and 1.1 of Art. 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code (organizing the activity of an extremist organization and involving others in it). For 15 months, this criminal case was investigated by the Investigative Committee for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area—Yugra. In November 2021, it went to court, which considered the case for 1 year and 9 months.

After the criminal prosecution began, Sorokin and Zhukov were added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists, practically depriving them of the opportunity to provide for their families — Ivan Sorokin, 45, has two children, one of whom is a minor, and Andrey Zhukov, 50, has two minor children, the youngest child is not yet 3 years.

This is the third acquittal of Jehovah's Witnesses by Russian courts in cases under Article 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code. In November 2021, the Pervorechenskiy District Court of Vladivostok found Dmitriy Barmakin not guilty, and in June 2022, the Porkhovskiy District Court of the Pskov Region fully acquitted Aleksey Khabarov. Unfortunately, both of these sentences were canceled, and each case was sent for a new trial, as a result Dmitriy Barmakin was sent to a penal colony for 8 years in April 2023.

Another acquittal was issued in October 2020 in the case against Yuriy Zalipayev under Part 1 of Art. 280 of the RF Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activity), who was later awarded compensation for unlawful criminal prosecution. In criminal cases against another 21 believers, the charges were dropped.