Maykop City Court found Nikolay Voishchev guilty of extremism for talking about God
Maykop City Court found Nikolay Voishchev guilty of extremism for talking about God
On September 14, 2023,
Zaurbiy Birzhev, judge of the Maykop City Court, found Nikolay Voishchev guilty of extremism solely for his faith. Although the elderly believer has already served 329 days in pretrial detention, he will have to spend yet another 1.5 years behind bars, despite his serious illness.
During the closing arguments, the prosecutor requested for Voishchev, 7 years imprisonment in a penal colony with deprivation of the right to engage in activity related to directing and participating in the work of public organizations for 5 years and restriction of freedom for 1 year. The judge decided to sentence Nikolay to imprisonment for 3 years in a penal colony with deprivation of the right to engage in educational activity, as well as activity related to directing and participating in religious, public associations and organizations for 4 years and with restriction of freedom for 1 year.
In his final statement before the court, the believer stated: "The prosecution requests to sentence me to 7 years... for being an honest person who respects the laws of the country... who loves his neighbor as himself. Seven years for being a good member of the community... one of Jehovah's Witnesses, for applying Article 28 of the Russian Constitution. Seven years for never having committed any criminal acts."
Nikolay Voishchev ended up behind bars back in October 2022. Investigator Zaurbiy Blyagoz initiated a criminal case against him under Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC, claiming that he "organized and conducted secret meetings together with other [Jehovah's Witnesses]." His arrest was preceded by a series of searches in Maykop.
The charges against the believer were based on the testimony of two secret witnesses. During interrogation in court, they could only confirm that Voishchev was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, which he did not hide anyway. The witnesses did not hear any calls for extremism from him. Another piece of evidence for the prosecution was the psycholinguistic expert study of hidden video recordings of meetings for worship, in which believers peacefully discuss the Bible. Ruslan Levinsky, who conducted the expert study, does not have the appropriate education in linguistics. The lawyer provided the opinion of the religious scholar Yekaterina Elbakyan; according to her findings "the conclusion of the expert [Levinsky] is not based on the provisions of generally accepted scientific data in the field of religious studies, the findings in the expert's conclusion appear to be unfounded."
Already before his arrest, Voishchev had been diagnosed with a tumor that required immediate treatment. Nikolay also suffers from severe headaches due to an injury sustained in his youth. The conditions of detention and the lack of proper treatment led to a deterioration of his health. He still needs medical attention.
Already four Jehovah's Witnesses from Maykop have faced prosecution for their faith. The world community and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation stated that "the joint performance of rites and ceremonies [of Jehovah's Witnesses] does not in itself constitute a crime under Article 282.2 of the RF CrC, despite the liquidation of their legal entities."
