Samara Regional Court
Appeal in Samara Upholds the Conviction of Aleksandr Dolganov — Three Years in Prison for Faith in Jehovah God
Samara RegionOn September 27, 2024, the panel of judges of the Samara Regional Court agreed with the decision of the first instance in the case of Aleksandr Dolganov. Although the term of punishment for the believer, 35, remained the same, the appeal counted the time under house arrest against the punishment at the rate of 1 day of house arrest for 1 day of colony. According to this decision, Dolganov should serve his sentence a month and a half earlier.
Earlier, the Avtozavodskiy District Court of the city of Tolyatti considered it a crime for Dolganov to hold services of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to the believer, this contradicts the explanations of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, so he appealed the verdict. Addressing the panel of judges, Dolganov said: "Bible principles taught me to be a kind, caring, patient person. I have a strong marriage; I took care of my beloved wife. I officially worked for the benefit of society, helped neighbors regardless of their faith... I was sentenced to three years in a penal colony for correction. What do I need to correct myself?"
The believer's lawyer emphasized: "During the consideration of the case by the court of first instance, it was reliably established that there was no extremism in the actions of the convict. This was confirmed by both expert opinions and the testimonies of witnesses, and this is clearly seen from the video recordings of the services examined by the court of first instance." The judge of the first instance, Anna Tokareva, nevertheless drew the following conclusion: "The absence in the expert conclusions of statements calling for or justifying the commission of unlawful actions ... does not question the presence of Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the actions of the defendant."
In the Samara region, five other Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced to long prison terms for their faith on similar charges.