The believers attend an appeal hearing via video conferencing from the pretrial detention center
The believers attend an appeal hearing via video conferencing from the pretrial detention center
On December 12, 2024, the Irkutsk Regional Court upheld the sentence of nine Jehovah's Witnesses. Earlier, the court of first instance had sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment in a penal colony. The believers continue to insist on their innocence and have the right to appeal the verdict in cassation.
As noted by the defense, the services in which the convicted Jehovah's Witnesses participated had nothing to do with the liquidated legal entities. Nevertheless, Sergey Vasiliyev was found guilty of participation in the activities of an extremist organization (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the rest of them were found guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and six of them were also found guilty of financing it (part 1 of article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Aleksey Solnechniy, speaking during the debate, commented: "It changes the accusation against me that I allegedly organized a fundraiser . . . Meanwhile, there is not a single concrete proof that I collected and transferred funds specifically for the needs of extremist organizations and specifically for extremist purposes. The verdict does not mention such evidence and does not exist."
Mikhail Moysh has two minor children. The believer's wife, Yelena, said: "Nikita [the eldest son—Ed. Ed.] They miss their father; they communicate only on the phone and on dates. The youngest son, David, was six months old when Misha was arrested. When you manage to take him on dates, he doesn't recognize Daddy." At the appeal hearing, Mikhail's lawyer asked the judicial panel: "Why then did the court recognize the presence of young children of M.F. Moish as a mitigating circumstance? In order to impose an even harsher punishment than the prosecutor requested?" The court's position regarding Andrey Tolmachev, who spent about 2.5 years in solitary confinement, has not changed either. He is the only son of elderly parents: his father is disabled, and his mother is unable to provide her husband with proper care for health reasons.
In his final statement, Sergey Vasiliyev, who had served his sentence in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest before the appeal, explained that faith in God changed his life for the better: "I stopped swearing, quit smoking and began to learn to love people. In total, it took me 9 years so that with the help of Jehovah God I was able to get rid of all the negative things that were in me. After that, for almost 20 years, the state had no claims against me. And suddenly, in 2021, there were searches and my arrest. For what? Because I studied the Bible and tried, like Jesus Christ, to do good to people."
It is noteworthy that neither the Oktyabrsky District Court of Irkutsk nor the Irkutsk Regional Court questioned the expert Elbakyan, although in the first case she was expecting her interrogation in the courthouse, having flown to the hearing to testify from Moscow. Yekaterina Sergeevna is a well-known Russian religious scholar. At the appeal hearing, one of the lawyers noted: "This is the only specialist who has investigated all the divine services that our clients are charged with." Another lawyer empasized that the refusal to interrogate is a serious violation of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation: "If this request is not satisfied, then I believe that the appellate ruling will a priori be illegal." As a result, the panel of judges rejected all the motions filed by the defense.
The criminal case against the Irkutsk believers received wide publicity, since mass searches were accompanied by torture and violence by law enforcement officers, for which law enforcement officers have not yet borne any responsibility.
