Court of Appeal Upholds the Guilty Verdict Against a Jehovah's Witness Couple from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy

On June 25, 2024, the Kamchatka Regional Court upheld the verdict of the court of first instance against Yelena and Sergey Chechulin: 2-year suspended sentence for participating in the activity of an "extremist" organization.

The believers do not agree with the decisions of the courts. Yelena Chechulina noted in her appeal: "The court did not establish the presence of motives of religious hatred or enmity in my actions, and it did not establish against which specific social group I acted. All my actions were completely peaceful." She added: "The law does not consider practicing the religion to which the liquidated religious associations belonged, including together with others, a sign of extremism. Therefore, declaring a legal entity extremist is not tantamount to imposing a ban on a religious denomination with its inherent teachings, spiritual terminology, and the procedure for holding meetings for worship."

The state prosecutor Khramova requested that the court of appeal toughen the punishment and increase it to a 6-year suspended sentence "in connection with the aggravating circumstance that the crime was committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy" — this is how Khramova regarded reading the Bible together with other believers.

Due to the guilty verdict, the Chechulins are deprived of the opportunity to travel outside the Kamchatka Territory. Their car has been seized, their accounts have been blocked and they cannot make their monthly mortgage payment themselves.

The authorities of the Kamchatka Territory continue the religious persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses: to date, 10 believers have suffered from the judicial system because of their peaceful beliefs.