Dmitriy with his wife Marina after the court of appeal decision, Novosibirsk, September 2023

Dmitriy with his wife Marina after the court of appeal decision, Novosibirsk, September 2023

Dmitriy with his wife Marina after the court of appeal decision, Novosibirsk, September 2023

Unjust Verdicts

Court of Appeal in Novosibirsk Upheld the Verdict Against Dmitriy Dolzhikov — 2 Years of Forced Labor for His Faith in Jehovah God

Novosibirsk Region

On September 22, 2023, the Novosibirsk Regional Court upheld the verdict against Dmitriy Dolzhikov. Earlier, the court of first instance sentenced him to 3 years in a penal colony, but replaced the term with forced labor. Taking into account the time spent under arrest, he will only have to serve 2 years of forced labor.

The court of appeal ignored the arguments of Dolzhikov, who stated: "The law does not consider practicing, including together with others, the religion to which the liquidated religious associations belonged as a sign of extremism." In his appeal, Dmitriy stated: "The court did not establish any motives of religious hatred or enmity in my actions; it has not been established which specific social group I acted against. All of my actions were completely peaceful. I did not do anything that would indicate continuing the activity any extremist organization."

In total, 8 Jehovah's Witnesses are being prosecuted for their faith in the Novosibirsk Region, one of whom is in a penal colony, and another was recently released.

Back in 2018, human rights defenders, commenting on the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, said: "What is happening to them, in fact, is happening to us: this is a test of the immune forces of society. The prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses shows the failure of anti-extremist legislation in general. If society does not protect Jehovah's Witnesses, if their rights are not restored, this will mean that anyone can be declared an extremist."

The Case of Dolzhikov in Novosibirsk

Case History
In May 2020, Dmitriy Dolzhikov became one of the defendants in a criminal case for his faith, which was initiated by the Investigative Committee for the Novosibirsk Region. When the believer moved to another region, his case was made into a separate proceeding. His new place of residence was searched in September 2022. Dolzhikov was interrogated and then taken back to Novosibirsk, where he was placed in a pretrial detention center for 2.5 months. The believer was under house arrest from November 2022. The court began hearing his case in December of the same year. The case involved the testimony of a secret witness and two Orthodox activists-“anti-sectarians”, and many of the materials in the case did not relate to Dolzhikov, but other believers. In June 2023, the court sentenced Dmitriy to 3 years in a penal colony and 1 year restriction of freedom, which was replaced with forced labor. In September 2023, the court of appeal upheld this decision. Since November, Dmitriy has been in the correctional center at IK-9 in Novosibirsk, where he was assigned to work as a shoemaker at a city enterprise.
Timeline

Persons in case

Dolzhikov
Dmitriy

Criminal case

Region:
Novosibirsk Region
Locality:
Novosibirsk
Suspected of:
suspected in: "deliberately, out of extremist motives, took part in the activity of a religious association... by participating in religious meetings and meetings of an extremist organization, having conversations... presentations and viewing of training videos"
Court case number:
42002500019000013
Initiated:
May 13, 2020
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Novosibirsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-51/2023 (1-737/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Leninskiy District Court of Novosibirsk
Judge:
Olga Kovalenko
Case History
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