Court in Birobidzhan Again Gave the Postnikovs Suspended Sentences for Reading the Bible

On August 23, 2023, the Birobidzhanskiy District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region completed the retrial of the case of Oleg and Agnessa Postnikov, who were charged with extremism for discussing Bible teachings. As a result, they were given suspended sentences of 5.5 and 4.5 years with a 5-year probation period.

"Judge Olga Klyuchnikova actually duplicated the previous sentence — earlier her colleague Mariya Tsimarno gave them suspended sentences: Oleg 5.5 years, and Agnessa Postnikova  5 years. In October 2022, a panel of judges of the Birobidzhan Regional Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region overturned this verdict and sent the case for a new trial. Despite the lack of evidence of the defendants' guilt, the prosecutor again requested the previous punishment for the Postnikovs."

Agnessa stressed that not a single piece of evidence was presented at the trial of her or her husband, verbally or otherwise, humiliating someone or calling for any illegal actions. "The covert video footage provided by the prosecutor's office, most clearly demonstrates the absence of a hateful motive," said Agnessa and continued: "[One of the witnesses] assured the court that neither my husband nor I used offensive or degrading words, nor did we call for genocide or repression. And the main witness — I appeared before court because of having conversations with her — repeatedly confirmed that I did not try to involve her in the organization. Nevertheless, the prosecution continues to insist that this is what we did." Oleg Postnikov noted in his final statement: "Jehovah's Witnesses are not criminals. We are simply following Jesus Christ's clear commandment to 'love one another.'"

The charges against the Postnikovs were based on the testimony of police officer Zvereva and another resident of Birobidzhan, who pretended to be interested in the Bible, as well as on hidden video recordings of their conversations. Zvereva testified in almost all criminal cases of Jehovah's Witnesses from Birobidzhan.

The Jewish Autonomous Region is one of the regions with the largest number of criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, where 21 believers have already received various sentences. Four of them are serving sentences in penal colonies.