Rinat Kiramov in the courtroom on the day of the verdict

Rinat Kiramov in the courtroom on the day of the verdict

Rinat Kiramov in the courtroom on the day of the verdict

Crimes Against Believers

A Convicted Jehovah's Witnesses from Akhtubinsk Was Tortured

Tula Region,   Astrakhan Region

A resident of the Astrakhan Region, Rinat Kiramov, sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony for his beliefs, was tortured in correctional medical facility No. 3 of the Tula Region, to force him to incriminate his fellow believers. Kiramov's lawyer mentions this in his complaint to the prosecutor's office. An inspection documented injuries on the body of the believer.

In April last year, Rinat Kiramov and two other believers were convicted because they discussed Bible topics with friends. Rinat Kiramov was sent to penal colony No. 6 of the Tula Region to serve his sentence. However, on April 18, 2024, Kiramov was transferred to correctional medical facility No. 3 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Tula Region on suspicion of tuberculosis.

A few days later during a brief visit, Rinat's wife, Galina Kiramova, immediately noticed bruises on her husband's face. Eventually, the lawyer Denis Zubanov found out, that on April 20, several prisoners insisted that Rinat disclose the names of Jehovah's Witnesses living in Akhtubinsk. After refusing to do so, the believer was beaten for several days, as well as tortured with waterboarding and with a stun gun. From April 20 to April 24, he was deprived of sleep, and was only allowed to eat once a day. The protocol of Kiramov's interview states: "During the entire time spent in the medical correctional institution... he was not allowed to brush his teeth, shave, wash or even sit down."

The lawyer appealed to the Tula Prosecutor for Supervision of Compliance with Laws in Correctional Institutions with a request for an urgent medical examination of Kiramov and verification of the legality of his transfer to the correctional medical facility.

The internal service of the correctional medical facility carried out an investigation into the reported torture. As a result, as stated in the relevant document, injuries were found on the body of Kiramov, which is "a sign of corpus delicti."

According to the response of the Prosecutor's Office of the Tula Region, on May 3, 2024, the materials were transferred for further investigation to the Skuratovskiy police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Tula.

The believer was found not to have tuberculosis, so on May 17 he was sent from the correctional medical facility back to the Tula penal colony.

The Case of Korolev and Others in Akhtubinsk

Case History
On a morning in November 2021, in Akhtubinsk and Znamensk (Astrakhan Region) Jehovah’s Witnesses were interrogated and their homes were searched. Prior to that some of them had been under surveillance. The security forces broke down doors, damaged property, and forced both men and women to the floor. The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Sergey Korolev, Rinat Kiramov and Sergey Kosyanenko, considering peaceful meetings for worship to be extremist activity. The believers were placed in a temporary detention facility, and then in a pretrial detention center, where they spent more than 1.5 years. In October 2022, the case went to court. Some witnesses for the prosecution, including a secret witness, partially or completely retracted their preliminary testimony. In April 2023, the court sentenced Korolev, Kiramov and Kosyanenko to 7 years imprisonment. Four months later, the court of appeal upheld the verdict against the believers. The court of cassation upheld this decision. In April 2024, Rinat Kiramov was unlawfully transferred to correctional medical facility No. 3 in the Tula Region, where he was subjected to abuse and torture.
Timeline

Persons in case

Kiramov
Rinat
Korolev
Sergey
Kosyanenko
Sergey

Criminal case

Region:
Astrakhan Region
Locality:
Akhtubinsk
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, "organized meetings ... including the use of video conferencing ... namely, in the form of collective religious worship consisting of the public reproduction of audio and video recordings... sequential singing of songs from a special collection of religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses and prayers to Jehovah God."
Court case number:
12102120006000100
Initiated:
November 9, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Akhtubinsk Interdistrict Investigation Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Astrakhan Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1-9/2023 (1–342/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Ахтубинский районный суд Астраханской области
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Анатолий Проскурин
Case History