Sergey Petrenko

Sergey Petrenko

Sergey Petrenko

Unjust Verdicts

Appeal in Altai Upholds the Sentence of One of Jehovah's Witnesses — Four Years Suspended

Altai

On September 12, 2024, the Supreme Court of the Altai Republic upheld Sergey Petrenko's four-year suspended sentence for peacefully practicing his faith, which was qualified as participation in the activities of an extremist organization.

During the trial in the Petrenko case, it turned out that five out of seven volumes were completely copied from the Kalistratov case. The trial lasted a year and a half and ended in a guilty verdict. Sergey Petrenko still pleads not guilty: "As a result of a miscarriage of justice, I was convicted only of professing beliefs based on the Bible."

The Case of Petrenko in Gorno-Altaysk

Case History
At the end of July 2022, the investigation initiated a criminal case against Sergey Petrenko, a resident of Gorno-Altaysk. The materials were separated from the case against another believer, Aleksandr Kalistratov. In December 2022, the case went to court and was then transferred three times to new judges for retrial. After one and a half years of hearings, the court gave Petrenko a four-year suspended sentence with three years of probation. Appeal upheld that decision.
Timeline

Persons in case

Petrenko
Sergey

Criminal case

Region:
Altai
Locality:
Gorno-Altaisk
Court case number:
12202840008000035
Initiated:
July 28, 2022
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-8/2024 (1-124/2023; 1-452/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Майминский районный суд Республики Алтай
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Елена Усольцева
Case History