[{"body":"The state prosecutor requests that Sergey Nazarov be given a 2-year suspended sentence.\nDuring the closing arguments, the lawyer notes that the secret witness \"Pastor\", whose testimony partly forms the basis of the charges, does not know the defendant personally nor remembers what he said. The defense also emphasizes that Nazarov has a disabled son under his care.\nSergey stresses that jointly practicing one's faith cannot be equated with the activity of a legal entity, as this constitutes a substitution of concepts and contradicts the law.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Nazarov in Vyselki","date":"2026-06-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki13/index.html#20260626","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-2"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense lawyer for Vechkaev continues the closing arguments. \"There is not a single investigative action or piece of evidence in the case that was obtained without violating the norms of the RF CrC,\" states the lawyer. The prosecution considered Vechkaev the \"spiritual leader,\" but there is no evidence to support this, and in the case materials reviewed, his identity is not even established.\nAleksey Shubnikov’s lawyer alleges forgery and falsification of case materials: \"Without the knowledge of the defense, 154 pages were added, 105 pages were altered, and 18 pages were irretrievably removed.\" He sees this as evidence of malfeasance and demands an investigation.\nAccording to Kolesnikov's lawyer, his client, the 80-year-old believer, was permantently residing and received medical treatment in the Republic of Belarus during the period in question; later, he suffered a stroke and could not engage in any organizational activity due to his health.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2026-05-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20260525","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Closing arguments continue. Yevgeniy Bochko's lawyer reminds the court that his client is a person with a disability and suffers from a severe autoimmune disease. In prison conditions, he will be deprived of the necessary treatment, which will inevitably lead to paralysis, blindness, and a slow death. \"Sending him to a penal colony is a cruel and inhuman decision,\" the defense states.\nUshakov's defense notes that the evidence in the case is fabricated and contains serious violations. In particular, the defendants could not have continued the activity of a legal entity, because it never existed in the Vyselkovskiy District. The believers exercised their constitutional right to practice their faith, which is not banned. The lawyer cites portions of recordings of meetings for worship, which discuss love for one's neighbor, refusal to participate in cruel games and violence, peacefulness, the effort to overcome evil with good, and respect for government authorities. \"Which of these statements did you assess at 6.5 years in prison?\" the lawyer asks the prosecutor.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2026-05-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20260521","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["defense-arguments","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"the closing arguments are taking place. The prosecutor asks to assign the following sentences: Ushakov and Bochko - 6.5 years in prison, Shubnikov - 6.5 years probation, Vechkaev and Kolesnikov - 6 years suspended each.\nThe defense emphasizes that the prosecutor's statement in the debate is in fact the complete opposite of what was established in the court session. For example, if two experts in court reported that it was impossible to determine whether the signature on the examination belongs to them, then the prosecutor claims in the debate that they recognized the signatures as their own. If portrait examinations were carried out on the basis of video recording files that were either unreadable on the disks or simply did not exist on them, the prosecutor claims: \"Experts have identified the defendants on the video recordings.\" Where at meetings for worship there are motives for peace and love for one's neighbors, the prosecutor, echoing the experts, declares the presence of hostility to the outside world and a desire to avoid the \"macro-society.\"\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2026-05-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20260519","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The state prosecutor requests the judge sentence the defendants to 6 years in a penal colony.\nSergey Barsukov's lawyer draws the court's attention to the fact that in Russia, representatives of all nations and minorities have the right to freedom of religion. Commenting on Kashchaeva's expert study, she notes that the results of the study did not establish any recruitment of new members, extremist actions, or evidence of criminal intent.\nAlik Yeliseyev's lawyer says: \"My client followed the example of faith that Jesus Christ left: he gathered with his disciples, prayed and sang songs with them, went from house to house, talked about the Kingdom of God.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Barsukov and Yeliseyev in Slavgorod","date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/slavgorod/index.html#20260506","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The first to speak in the debate is Leonid Pyzhov. He states: \"The very conversation about religion ... cannot indicate the presence of an extremist motive.\" According to him, he carried out the usual religious practice - prayers, Bible discussion, and communication with fellow believers.\nSergey Rygaev emphasizes his peaceful position: \"For more than 30 years I have been striving with all my might to live in harmony with the words of Jesus Christ: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' And for me, a neighbor is any person living on earth. There are no victims of my peaceful religious activities in the case.\"\nRygaev also draws the court's attention to the groundlessness of the position of the state prosecutor and cites the materials of the case, including the results of expert examinations, for example, the conclusion that during meetings for worship believers \"do not show a hostile attitude towards any groups distinguished on national, racial, religious and other grounds, they do not seek to form a corresponding negative emotional and semantic attitude.\"\nAbout 60 people come to the courthouse to support the defendants on this day.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rygaev and Pyzhov in Omsk","date":"2026-03-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/omsk3/index.html#20260317","regions":["omsk"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the closing arguments, Dmitriy Kuzin says that he has been practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses for almost 30 years and gives a reminder: the RF Supreme Court did not evaluate their doctrine and did not ban it.\nThe defendant notes that the illegal actions he is charged with have not been proven, but \"only merely listed in the indictment without supporting evidence.\"\nFor the hearing 45 people turned up, but only 19 are allowed into the hall.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Makhnev and Kuzin in Kaluga","date":"2026-01-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaluga/index.html#20260122","regions":["kaluga"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the closing arguments, the believer asks to be acquitted. She notes: \"The charge is so vague that it does not even define which of my actions expressed 'involving others' and which 'inciting', and how one differs from the other.\"\nAccording to the defense, the investigator does not specify in which organization Kukavitsa \"involved\" Zhukova-Suvorova: three different names appear in the case.\nThe defendant also believes that both expert conclusions were made with serious violations. According to her, in the document of the non-profit organization (NPO) \"Penza Laboratory of Forensic Expert Study\", there are borrowings (plagiarism). Moreover, an NPO has no right whatsoever to conduct such an expert study.\nThe charges are based on recordings of conversations between Kukavitsa and Zhukova-Suvorova. The believer describes them as \"peaceful conversations about the Bible — without conflict, coercion or incitement to illegal actions.\"\nAccording to the defense, the recordings were made not through the official procedure of \"intercepting communications\", but simply from the screen of Zhukova-Suvorova's mobile phone. These materials were obtained without a court ruling, so they cannot serve as evidence in the case.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kukavitsa in Birobidzhan","date":"2025-12-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan20/index.html#20251229","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Addressing the court, Makhnev emphasizes the absence of victims and evidence of illegal activity.\nThe defendant comments on the charge of undermining the constitutional order brought against him as follows: \"I try to live according to Bible commandments, including obeying the laws of the state: I pay taxes, officially registered my marriage, and lead a peaceful life. It means that I am strengthening the foundations of the constitutional system and do not pose a threat to the security of the state.\"\nThe believer draws attention to the fact that witnesses in the case described him positively: \"Not one of them could remember a situation when I or the other defendants physically harmed or insulted anyone.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Makhnev and Kuzin in Kaluga","date":"2025-12-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaluga/index.html#20251225","regions":["kaluga"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to appoint Yevtushenko three years in a general regime colony. The court appoints two.\nBefore that, Anatoly Yevtushenko makes his final statement and notes: \"Prison walls are not an obstacle for the spirit of God, with which he supports those who are faithful to him.\"\nMore than 70 people come to court to support the defendant. After the verdict was announced, he was taken into custody and taken away in handcuffs.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yevtushenko in Krasnodar","date":"2025-12-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar3/index.html#20251223","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["prosecutor-request","sentence","282.2-2","liberty-deprivation","defense-arguments","final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 3 years of suspended sentence for Maria Ogoreva with a probationary period of 2 years and 6 months of restrictions.\nDuring the debate, the defense states: \"We believe that Mariya's rights have been grossly violated,\" after which it adds: \"But despite all the moral damage and searches, which still have a detrimental effect on the health of my client (for which there is evidence), she, on the contrary, shows the opposite qualities of extremism - a respectful attitude, kindness and patience towards her accusers. She does not hold a grudge, because the Bible teaches her so.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mariya Ogoreva in Mednogorskiy","date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/mednogorskiy6/index.html#20251216","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-2","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Making their final statements, the defendants do not admit guilt in extremism, draw the court's attention to the absurdities in the charge and ask to be acquitted. About 100 people come to support the defendants, some came from other regions.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sokolov and Others in Voronezh","date":"2025-11-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/voronezh/index.html#20251107","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The lawyer refutes the arguments of the prosecution during the debate. He mentions the interrogation of Drozdov, a specialist of the Center for Combating Extremism, who claimed that the defendants were members of the legal entity of Jehovah's Witnesses in Voronezh, but he could not confirm this with any documents.\nAs an argument, Drozdov pointed to the presence of \"some kind of reporting from Jehovah's Witnesses,\" which, in his opinion, testified to signs of the activities of a religious organization. \"Even a family can have accountability,\" says the lawyer. \"The family, for example, keeps a budget, takes into account utility bills.\"\nThe defense lawyer also mentions the words of the detective Gerasimov, who considered the actions of the accused illegal only because \"they gathered together.\" He also failed to substantiate his claim.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sokolov and Others in Voronezh","date":"2025-11-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/voronezh/index.html#20251106","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Speaking during the debate, lawyers and defendants refute the accusations and emphasize the right to freedom of religion: \"The expert opinions of political scientists and linguists talk only about signs – not actions, but signs. And this is the ground for imagination and free interpretation,\" says Vitaliy Nerush.\nAbout the motives of Valeriy Gursky, the lawyer says: \"He did not pursue any goal other than worshiping God. Ordinary religious activity is erroneously called a crime.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sokolov and Others in Voronezh","date":"2025-11-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/voronezh/index.html#20251101","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Andrey Sazonov presents his closing arguments and makes his final statement. Among those gathered to support the believer is his daughter, who traveled 1000 kilometers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sazonov in Uray","date":"2025-10-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/uray/index.html#20251016","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor again requested imprisonment of 6 years and 4 months for the elderly believer. Brattseva presents her closing arguments and gives her final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Brattseva in Razdolnoye","date":"2025-10-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/razdolnoye/index.html#20251014","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request","final-statement","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecution requests the court send Samvel Babayan to a penal colony for 8 years.\nA large courtroom is allocated to allow 27 people who want to support the defendant to attend the hearing. The believer is happy to see his friends, but he still suffering physically.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Babayan in Samara","date":"2025-10-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/samara2/index.html#20251009","regions":["samara"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a punishment for the believer of 3.5 years in a penal colony.\nThe defendant makes her final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kamshilova in Kurgan","date":"2025-09-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan4/index.html#20250904","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requested for Yuliya Pasynkova a 5-year suspended sentence with a ban on religious activity and a 4-year probation period. The believer is caring for her minor son with a disability, but the prosecutor reckons that she has no mitigating circumstances.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yuliya Pasynkova in Mednogorskiy","date":"2025-09-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/mednogorskiy4/index.html#20250903","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a fine of 1.3 million rubles for Andrey Sazonov. At the same time, the prosecutor notes that the defendant is described as a good family man, a trusted leader, and a competent specialist.\nDuring the closing arguments, the believer says: \"Neither the preliminary investigation nor the judicial investigation have established a single fact confirming my guilt. On the contrary, the case materials testify to my complete innocence.\"\nSazonov also refers to case law application in the Russian Federation, in particular, the example of the acquittal in the case of fellow believer Kirill Gushchin, and the decision of the Plenum of the RF Supreme Court, according to which participating in religious rites, reading and distributing religious literature is exercising the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religion.\nWhereas 17 people are allowed to attend the hearing, another 5 are waiting outside.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sazonov in Uray","date":"2025-09-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/uray/index.html#20250901","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1","282.3-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"","caseTitle":"The Case of Yuliya Pasynkova in Mednogorskiy","date":"2025-08-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/mednogorskiy4/index.html#20250820","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 7 years in prison for Viktor Ursu, basing the charges on the testimony of witnesses. At the same time, the defense draws attention to the fact that these people \"did not confirm that the defendant had ever made statements against the state authorities or members of other religions about using violence against them, the need for genocide or repression.\"\nThe defense reminds the court of the mass repressions against Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR, when just for their faith \"thousands of people were deported without trial or investigation to various regions of Siberia, where in exile the defendant was born.\" The lawyer asks: \"Is history repeating itself, which we should already have learned lessons from?\"\nThen Viktor Ursu makes a statement. He emphasizes that there was no motive of hatred or enmity in his actions: \"Throughout my life I have striven and strive to build and unite, and not to incite enmity or destroy.\"\nThere are 20 people in the courtroom, as the judge allows the session to be held in a spacious courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ursu in Dzhankoy","date":"2025-07-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/dzhankoy2/index.html#20250728","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"I believe that the prosecution failed to prove not only the corpus delicti in Penskaya's actions, but also that a crime was actually committed,\" the lawyer says in her closing arguments. She notes that the prosecution did not cite a single statement \"falling under the concept of extremism\" and based its line of reasoning on a few phrases taken out of context.\nThe lawyer also mentioned the position of the ECHR, which has repeatedly pointed out that the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses is nothing less than repression for faith.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Penskaya in Vyselki","date":"2025-07-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki5/index.html#20250728","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a 2-year suspended sentence for the defendant.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Penskaya in Vyselki","date":"2025-07-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki5/index.html#20250718","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["punishment-request","first-instance","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to send 69-year-old Tamara Brattseva to a colony for 6 years and 4 months.\nThe defendant's lawyer draws attention to the unfairness and cruelty of the prosecutor's demand in relation to the believer: \"The fact that the prosecution is asking for such a cruel punishment - imprisonment for a person whose only 'guilt' is that he prayed, read the Bible and sought to live according to his conscience - is not just a legal error. This is a moral fall. To turn faith into proof of guilt means to replace justice with repression, and the law with arbitrariness. Such actions of the prosecutor's office are not only devoid of compassion, but also deeply blasphemous: they encroach on the sacred – on the right of a person to seek God and live in harmony with his conscience. This is not a fight against extremism, this is a fight against beliefs, and it has nothing to do with law.\"\nIn her final statement, Tamara Brattseva speaks of her faith and firmness of convictions: \"If I am convicted, it will not change anything. I will continue to love Jehovah and worship only him.\"\nAbout 40 people come to the courthouse to support the elderly believer.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Brattseva in Razdolnoye","date":"2025-07-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/razdolnoye/index.html#20250715","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request","final-statement","courtroom","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a 6-year suspended sentence for the believer.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Protasov in Novocheboksarsk","date":"2025-05-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novocheboksarsk2/index.html#20250528","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests the court sentence the believer to 6.5 years in a penal colony with a 4-year ban on engaging in activity related to leading and participating in the work of public organizations.\nAnton Kuzhelkov gives his final statement. He draws a parallel between his case and the trial of Jesus Christ: \"I am accused of changing the foundations of the constitutional order of the country by the use of force... but I am a follower of Christ. I cannot act against the state.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kuzhelkov and Prokhorov in Kirsanov","date":"2025-05-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kirsanov/index.html#20250527","regions":["tambov"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom","sentence","suspended","282.2-1","studies-violations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 8 years in prison for the believer.\nThe defense in its speech emphasizes that the investigation did not provide any evidence of the defendant's guilt. Also, this evidence is absent in the testimonies of witnesses, material evidence and the conclusion of a religious examination, and the case materials confirm only the fact that Shcherbich is a believer.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shcherbich in Neftekumsk","date":"2025-05-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/neftekumsk3/index.html#20250507","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests real terms for Andrey Shiyan and Anna Matveeva: for Andrey - 6 years and 6 months, and for Anna - 2 years and 6 months.\nThe believers, their lawyers and the prosecutor speak in the debate, and then the defendants make their final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shiyan and Matveeva in Lesosibirsk","date":"2025-04-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesosibirsk3/index.html#20250425","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom","282.2-1","282.2-2"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The hearing is adjourned at the request of the state prosecutor, who has just entered the process. The judge extends Vladimir Fomin's detention for another 3 months.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2025-04-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20250418","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","282.2-1.1","282.2-2","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In addition to the participants in the trial, about 35 people are present in the courtroom. Aleksandr Podolin says that his faith in Jehovah God is based on the Bible and, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, he has the right to practice this religion.\nThe defense draws the court's attention to the fact that in Russia the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited, and prayer and preaching are not crimes. It is noted that the prosecution has no facts proving the extremist activities of believers. Lawyers ask the court to acquit their clients.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Reshetnikov and Others in Gryazi","date":"2025-04-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gryazi/index.html#20250403","regions":["lipetsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a sentence of 7 years in a general regime colony for Maksim Khamatshin.\nThe believer makes the final statement. 30 people come to support him, 10 are allowed into the meeting room.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Khamatshin in Chelyabinsk","date":"2025-04-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk9/index.html#20250401","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Yevgeniy Kolesov. Kurgan City Court of the Kurgan Region (35 Dzerzhinsky Street, Kurgan). Start: 13:30.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Skudaev in Kurgan","date":"2025-03-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan/index.html#20250325","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vladlena Kukavica speaks in the debate and asks for her acquittal. She notes that there were no signs of extremism in her actions, and says: \"Everything that V.E. Suvorova and I talked about revolved around the Bible, biblical principles, laws and history. The court could be fully convinced of this by watching the video recordings.\" She also recalls that this was confirmed by the testimony of witness Suvorova.\nThe believer draws the court's attention to the fact that the forensic examination was carried out in violation of the law. Vladlena also expresses doubts about the competence of the expert. She says: \"Answering the question posed by the investigator ... the expert used Wikipedia, not special knowledge in the field of linguistics or other scientific data.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kukavitsa in Birobidzhan","date":"2025-03-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan20/index.html#20250306","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defendant explains in detail to the court why the testimony of the witness Rosenblit should be critical. The latter, feigning an interest in the Bible, met with Tokhtaev several times to discuss this book via video-conferencing, initiating these conversations. Rosenblit, among other things, testified about meetings with Tokhtaev, which allegedly took place during the period when the believer was in the hospital in a serious condition and could not even write a message to his wife. The believer calls Rosenblit's testimony unfounded and emphasizes that their conversations about the Bible did not contradict the laws and the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Tokhtaev in Poronaysk","date":"2025-02-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/poronaysk/index.html#20250225","regions":["sakhalin"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a imprisonment sentence for Semyonov for 6 years and 5 months in a general regime colony. After that, the defense speaks in the debate and the believer pronounces the final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Semenov in Cherkessk","date":"2025-02-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk5/index.html#20250214","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate, the prosecutor requested a sentence of 7 years in a general regime colony.\nThe defense asks to close the criminal case due to the absence of corpus delicti. The lawyer emphasizes that neither the witnesses nor the expert confirmed the presence of extremism in the actions of the believer. The prosecutor agrees and says that the goal of the prosecution was not to prove involvement in extremism, but an organized continuation of the activities of the LRO. The lawyer states that the case materials do not contain such facts either, and the defendant has never been a member of the LRO.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shurygin in Chelyabinsk","date":"2025-02-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk10/index.html#20250211","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Aleksandr Kotkov. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky City Court of the Kamchatka Territory (6 Kurchatov Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky). Time: 10:00.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ovchar in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy","date":"2025-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy3/index.html#20250210","regions":["kamchatka"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Dmitriy Malikov. Industrial District Court of Barnaul, Altai Territory (28 Baltiyskaya Street, Barnaul). Time: 9:00 a.m.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klokov in Barnaul","date":"2025-02-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/barnaul4/index.html#20250207","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom","sentence","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Ekaterina Vershinina. Konakovo City Court of the Tver Region (13 Vasilkovskogo Street, Konakovo). Time: 10:30.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Starikov and Others in Konakovo","date":"2025-02-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/konakovo/index.html#20250206","regions":["tver"],"tags":["punishment-request","282.2-1","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests punishment: for Shchetinin, Kuznetsov, Katamov and Starikov - 8 years in a general regime colony with restriction of freedom for a term of 1 year 6 months, for Sergey Naumenko - 7 years in a colony with restriction of freedom for a term of 1 year.\nAfter that, the defense takes the floor in the debate. \"What did we see and hear at this trial? The lawyer asks. - What words were most often heard from the lips of the defendants themselves, witnesses, on audio recordings of conversations and meetings for worship? \"Bible\", \"God\", \"Jehovah\", \"love\", \"kindness\", \"gratitude\". Why is there nothing extremist in the case on charges of extremism?\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Naumenko in Konakovo","date":"2025-02-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/konakovo2/index.html#20250206","regions":["tver"],"tags":["punishment-request","282.2-1","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Lev Bogdanov. Pavlovsky District Court of Krasnodar Territory (23 Lenin Street, Pavlovskaya Station). Time: 15:00.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Davydenko in Pavlovskaya","date":"2025-02-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pavlovskaya4/index.html#20250205","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Olga Obraztsova. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky City Court of the Kamchatka Territory (6 Kurchatov Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky). Time: 14:00.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Chechulins in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy","date":"2025-02-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy2/index.html#20250205","regions":["kamchatka"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 8 years in a general regime colony and 2 years of restriction of freedom for Klokov.\nSpeaking in the debate, Valery notes:\n\"Throughout the trial, I tried to understand the line between the legal right to practice any religion, including the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, and the illegal continuation of the activities of liquidated religious organizations. Or how I was supposed to worship my God without getting 6 to 10 years in prison for it?.. I have not received a comprehensible and law-based answer to this question.\" He adds: \"The accusation against me is not supported by the evidence presented: neither the testimony of witnesses, nor the written materials of the case.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klokov in Barnaul","date":"2025-02-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/barnaul4/index.html#20250204","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Galina Vasilkevich. Pervorechensky District Court of Vladivostok (4 Yuzhno-Uralskaya Street, Vladivostok). Time: 09:00.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Redozubov and Others in Vladivostok","date":"2025-01-31T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vladivostok/index.html#20250131","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Ksenia Matvievskaya. Vyazemsky District Court of the Khabarovsk Territory (4 Kozyukova Street, Vyazemsky). Time: 10:30 a.m.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dolinina in Dormidontovka","date":"2025-01-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/dormidontovka/index.html#20250130","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1.1","282.2-2"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 9 years in prison for each of the 10 defendants.\nThe accusation was based on video footage and the testimony of a classified witness. One defense attorney says that if the accusation were true, there would have been many witnesses in the case, not just one classified person who failed to identify the source of his knowledge.\nThe prosecution argues that the defendants do not spontaneously and separately profess their religion, which means that they continue the activities of an extremist organization. In the debates, the defense draws attention to the fact that the law prohibits the continuation or renewal of not any, but namely illegal activity, and no evidence of such was heard in court.\nThe prosecutor admits that the motive of enmity and hatred has not been proven. Lawyers remind that the presence of direct intent is a mandatory element of the corpus delicti under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Plotnikov and Others in Yoshkar-Ola","date":"2025-01-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yoshkar-ola2/index.html#20250116","regions":["mari-el"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a imprisonment sentence for the believers: 6 years and 11 months for Viktor Kudinov and 7 years for Sergey Zhigalov.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Zhigalov and Kudinov in Sevastopol","date":"2025-01-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/sevastopol5/index.html#20250110","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to send Pavel Chemrov to a general regime colony for 3 years and 6 months.\nThe defendant makes his final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Chemrov in Nazarovo","date":"2024-12-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nazarovo2/index.html#20241224","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-2","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to sentence Aleksey Pasynkov to 6.5 years in a general regime colony.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Pasynkov in Mednogorskiy","date":"2024-12-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/mednogorskiy3/index.html#20241216","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to sentence the women to 6 years in a penal colony.\nDefenders of believers draw the court's attention to the fact that the man, who pretended to be interested in the Bible, communicated with the defendants voluntarily, no pressure was exerted on him. They also emphasize the lack of evidence of the use of banned literature by believers. According to the lawyers, Kocherov and Ovchinnikova simply discussed the Bible with friends, without in any way undermining the foundations of the state system and the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kocherova and Ovchinnikova in Knyaze-Volkonskoye","date":"2024-11-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/knyaze-volkonskoe2/index.html#20241126","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense is being debated. Anufriev, Merinkov and Polyakevich make their final statements.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polyakevich and Others in Pechora","date":"2024-11-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pechora/index.html#20241120","regions":["komi"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In the course of the debate, Nikolay Kupriyansky emphasizes the groundlessness of the accusation of continuing the activities of a legal entity: \"I am accused of organizing the activities of a liquidated organization due to the fact that the services recorded on audio and video recordings were held in an organized manner... I do not agree with such an accusation and its justification. As could be heard from the testimony of the defendants in this criminal case, Jehovah's Witnesses are followers of Jesus Christ, and they have always gathered together to study the Bible, pray to Jehovah God, and spiritually encourage and support each other.\"\n\"Your Honor, you have repeatedly said that our religious beliefs do not apply to this criminal case. But the content of the indictment suggests the opposite,\" Oksana Chausova notes. As practice in Russia has already shown, any connection with Jehovah's Witnesses is interpreted as a crime. The mere mention that a person belongs to a given religion is used to initiate operational-search activities.\"\nDmitry Chausov speaks in the debate. He has not pleaded guilty. According to him, all that the prosecution proved was his religious affiliation, which was not prohibited by law or by a court decision. Among other things, the believer draws attention to the testimony of a witness who feigned interest in the Bible, but later accused the Chausovs of putting pressure on him. Dmitriy emphasizes: \"Just think about it: a young, healthy, capable guy, an athlete, a student, who called me on his own initiative and wanted to keep in touch with us, says that he was under pressure.\" Further, Chausov asks a rhetorical question: \"What prevented him from simply stopping communicating with us and stop coming to visit us?\" He reminds the court of the testimony of this witness: \"I agreed to the officers that I would go to the end and bring the case through. I went to meetings that you invited me to and recorded them.\" Dmitriy continues: \"So was there any pressure? And if so, on whose side is it really?\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kupriyanskiy and Others in Kursk","date":"2024-11-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kursk2/index.html#20241119","regions":["kursk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Valentina Yermilova, who, like the rest of the defendants, does not agree with the charges, takes the floor. \"It's inconceivable that believers would stop ... sing spiritual songs, pray, preach, and discuss doctrinal sources. The opposite means having to renounce one's faith under pain of criminal liability,\" she said.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Golik and Others in Blagoveshchensk","date":"2024-11-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/blagoveshchensk3/index.html#20241106","regions":["amur"],"tags":["defense-arguments","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defendants make their last word, emphasizing their disagreement with the charges.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2024-10-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20241023","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","courtroom"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"21 people come to the court session to support their fellow believers. The arguments of the parties begin. The state prosecutor requests 7 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony for Polyakevich, Anufriev, Merinkov, Vorontsov and 5 years for Skutelets.\nOn behalf of the defense, lawyers for the defendants speak.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polyakevich and Others in Pechora","date":"2024-10-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pechora/index.html#20241009","regions":["komi"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate, the believers and their defenders ask the court to overturn the conviction and acquit the believers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2024-10-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20241002","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["appeal","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a imprisonment for 3 years in a penal colony for the believer.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kokovin in Yaroslavl","date":"2024-09-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yaroslavl2/index.html#20240920","regions":["yaroslavl"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Kristina Golik and Maria Myasnikova disagree with the position of the prosecution during the debate. Maria Myasnikova says: \"We did not violate public order and public safety. Our actions have not harmed religious diversity in the Amur Region... There are no victims in the case.\"\nKristina Golik notes that there was no criminal component in her actions: \"The prosecution is completely focused on creating the impression that the discussion of the Bible among friends is nothing more than a continuation of the activities of an extremist organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Golik and Others in Blagoveshchensk","date":"2024-09-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/blagoveshchensk3/index.html#20240913","regions":["amur"],"tags":["defense-arguments","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"State prosecutor Ilya Mityukov requests a imprisonment for 4 years in a general regime penal colony and restriction of liberty for a period of 8 months for the defendant.\nThe prosecutor says that the guilt of the defendant was confirmed by the testimony of witnesses and eyewitnesses of the incident, the materials of the criminal case, as well as the results of religious and psychological examinations. Further, he gives a characteristic of the personality of Galina Komissarova and points out mitigating circumstances, such as age, the presence of diseases, as well as positive characteristics.\nThe lawyer reminds the court that the article under which Komissarova is being tried implies actions of an extremist orientation and assumes the presence of motives of religious hatred and enmity. In addition, actions must be not only intentional, but also public. However, the prosecution did not provide this evidence to the court.\nThe defense lawyer asks to fully acquit the defendant due to the absence of corpus delicti, motives and malicious intent in her actions.\n28 people come to the hearing, 8 are allowed into the courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Komissarova in Tolyatti","date":"2024-06-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti6/index.html#20240625","regions":["samara"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The meeting room is overcrowded. Among the 19 people who came for support, there are 6 children of Sergei Parfenovich, as well as the couple of the older children and the wives of the defendants.\nThe closing arguments are taking place. The defense repeatedly reminds that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited in Russia.\nThe prosecutor asks to appoint Sergey Parfenovich and Yuriy Gerashchenko to 7 years in prison.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Parfenovich and Gerashchenko in Krasnogvardeyskoye","date":"2024-06-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnogvardeyskoe/index.html#20240620","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks for punishment: for Kishta Tutinova - 6 years probation with a probationary period of 4 years, for Tsagan Khalgaeva - 3 years probation with a probation period of 2 years, for Ekaterina Menkova - 2 years and 6 months probation with a probation period of 2 years.\nThe debate of the parties is taking place. Believers deliver the last word.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Tutinova and Others in Elista","date":"2024-06-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/elista/index.html#20240605","regions":["kalmykia"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"For five sessions, the prosecution, lawyers and Aleksandr Lubin speak in the debate.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-06-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240601","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to sentence the disabled person of group II Alexander Lubin to 7 years conditionally with a probationary period of 4 years.\nThe defendant provides the court with information about the impact on his life and health of his stay in the pre-trial detention center, where he spent 1.5 months and was released only after a complaint to the ECHR.\nThe debate of the defense begins.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-05-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240528","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to appoint Virich 6.5 years in a general regime colony with restriction of liberty for 1 year.\nThe court satisfies the petitions of the defense and attaches to the criminal case a certificate from Virich's place of work and documents confirming that his elderly parents have serious illnesses.\n\"There is not a single piece of evidence that would confirm that I have committed some kind of crime,\" Anton Virich makes his last speech.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Virich in Luchegorsk","date":"2024-04-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/luchegorsk4/index.html#20240411","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Elena Karamova. Central District Court of Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo Region (Karl Liebknecht St., 9). Time: 10:00.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yelena Chernykh in Prokopyevsk","date":"2024-04-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopyevsk/index.html#20240401","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments","punishment-request","families"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a punishment for the believer in the form of 5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony with restriction of freedom for 10 months.\nAlexander Dolganov speaks with the last word: \"No matter what sentence is pronounced, I will not renounce my faith.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dolganov in Tolyatti","date":"2024-04-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti3/index.html#20240401","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments","final-statement","282.2-2","punishment-request","courtroom"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the defense is taking place. Maksim Derendyaev's lawyer notes: \"[The court] needs to separate actions aimed at detecting extremism from performing religious rites without elements of extremism.\" She adds: \"He [Derendyaev] is just a deeply religious person. He wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ.\"\nAleksandr Kutin's lawyer says: \"I believe that the main mistake of the prosecution is that it is looking for some kind of organization in the way worship is conducted, and not genuine extremism itself.\" He also notes: \"The content of the publications discussed by believers ... is the exact opposite of the signs of hatred and enmity that the Supreme Court has formulated and singled out.\"\nSergey Ashikhmin's lawyer states: \"None of the charges set forth in the indictment has been confirmed, both during the preliminary investigation and during the consideration of the criminal case in the present trial.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Derendyaev and Others in Izhevsk","date":"2024-03-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk/index.html#20240325","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"To support the believer, 43 people come to the courthouse, but only five are allowed into the courtroom.\nThe defense and the defendant speak. The lawyer notes: \"All the evidence presented by the investigation was contradictory, the witnesses were confused in their testimonies, did not give accurate explanations. Therefore, I believe that the investigation did not prove Sidorenko's guilt, and Sidorenko's guilt was not established at the hearing.\"\nTheir statements are attached to the case file.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sidorenko in Krasnodar","date":"2024-03-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar2/index.html#20240325","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"I am proud to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and I will never deny it, no matter what I am threatened,\" Yuriy Yuskov delivered his final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yuskov in Novocheboksarsk","date":"2024-03-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novocheboksarsk/index.html#20240313","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the parties is taking place. Aleksandr Chagan delivers his final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Chagan in Tolyatti","date":"2024-02-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti/index.html#20240229","regions":["samara"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"State prosecutor Oksana Slobodyannik, speaking in the debate, asks the court to sentence Tatyana Piskareva to 5 years in prison.\nThe defendant's lawyer objects: \"During the investigation, it was revealed that there were no grounds for punishment. The accusations are unfounded and unsubstantiated. Piskareva peacefully practiced her religion, according to Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. I ask the court to acquit the client.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Piskareva in Oryol","date":"2024-02-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/orel4/index.html#20240221","regions":["oryol"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests punishment in the form of fines for believers: for Alexander Vasichkin and Anatoly Lyamo - 1,200,000 rubles each, for Vladimir Spivak and Sergey Galyamin - 700,000 rubles each.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vasichkin and Others in Teykovo","date":"2024-02-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/teykovo/index.html#20240215","regions":["ivanovo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","fine","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Prosecutor Inessa Orlova asks to sentence Inver Siyukhov to 9 years in prison in a penal colony and 2 years of restriction of freedom. Speaking in the debate, the defendant states that the prosecution has not presented any evidence that anyone suffered from his actions.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Siyukhov in Maykop","date":"2024-02-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/maykop/index.html#20240209","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 2.5 years in a general regime colony for the defendant.\nKabanov gives his last word. He draws attention to the fact that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and that believers have the right to continue to practice their religion, according to article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kabanov in Zelenogorsk","date":"2024-01-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zelenogorsk/index.html#20240130","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","first-instance","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aram Danielyan, Denis Kuzyanin, Sergey Polosenko and Nikolay Vasiliyev were sentenced to 7 years in prison for practicing their faith. This decision was made by Dmitriy Derunov, judge of the Samara District Court, on Thursday, January 25. The believers were taken into custody. Their friends and relatives accompanied the police van with applause and shouted \u0026quot;We love you!\u0026quot;\nThe six-month trial against the Samara residents came to an abrupt conclusion: the last hearing including breaks lasted more than 10 hours. Within this time, the closing arguments, the final statements and the verdict were presented.\nThe charges of organizing extremist activity are based on hidden recordings of meetings for worship and personal conversations about the Bible, as well as some documents from the computer of one of the defendants, which, as it turned out in court, were uploaded there by an FSB technical specialist during the search. It was not indicated in the case materials exactly which extremist actions or statements were made by the believers.\nDefendants in the courtroom during a break The prosecutor requested 9 years imprisonment for all defendants. The defense requested an adjournment of the closing arguments so that everyone would have the opportunity to prepare, but the judge refused and granted only a 10-minute break. \u0026quot;I ask you to pass an acquittal on the results of this unprecedented case,\u0026quot; said one of the lawyers in the ensuing speech, \u0026quot;and I ask [to pass] a private ruling on the violation of the current legislation not only for the sake of Danielyan and other defendants, who have already received their share of unjustified prosecution in full, but also for the sake of other citizens who may face attacks from the investigator and the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office.\u0026quot;\nThe defendants prepared their final statements during a break announced after the closing arguments. At this point, their wives and other relatives, realizing that the case was moving towards imprisonment, brought things, and relatives and friends continued gathering near the courthouse in the cold. The hearing was also attended, obviously to exert pressure on the court, by three FSB officers, including Nikolay Kulik, known to local believers for his negative attitude towards Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. One of those who came, as previously stated by the believers, was present when one of the brothers was beaten when detained.\nAram, Nikolay, Denis and Sergey previously expressed deep gratitude to family and friends for their support. \u0026quot;I can confidently say that if it were not for the help of my brothers and sisters, I would not have endured this ordeal with dignity,\u0026quot; Aram said. Denis related: \u0026quot;One of the most memorable events was the first batch of letters I received about a month after I ended up in the pretrial detention center. They brought about 80 letters, and a few days later the same amount.\nThe case of the believers developed according to the pattern that had already become the \u0026quot;standard\u0026quot;: searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Samara in December 2021, followed by interrogations. All four defendants in the case spent a year behind bars even during the investigation. The believers consider the verdict unfair and intend to appeal it.\nIn the Samara Region, this is already the second conviction for peacefully practicing their religion.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-01-25T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/01/290936/image_hu_fe4b9fe908c0a86c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/01/290936/image_hu_d740c6e44ae7b225.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/01/290936/image_hu_159bfa81fa4b05d6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/01/290936/image_hu_c71a547c4ebfda0d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/01/290936.html","regions":["samara"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1","liberty-deprivation","punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"title":"Court in Samara Sent Four Jehovah's Witnesses to Prison for 7 Years","type":"news"},{"body":"The debate of the parties is taking place. Prosecutor R. G. Magomedgadzhiyeva requests 5 years probation and 4 years of restrictions for believers.\nValentina Vladimirova, speaking in the debate, draws the court's attention to the fact that \"the prosecution, believing that all Jehovah's Witnesses as a religion, as well as all publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, are banned in general,\" considered that \"the usual holding of worship ceremonies ... is nothing more than a crime of an extremist nature, that is, a continuation of the activities of the liquidated organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.\"\nThe defendant also notes that the operational-search measures were carried out with violations, without the permission of the court, and the expert opinions were carried out by specialists who do not have qualified knowledge.\nThe defendant concludes: \"The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not forbid either me or Tatyana Galkevich, together with my friends or with my family, to discuss biblical issues and thus to perform worship services. And this constitutional right does not depend on the presence or absence of a legal entity or any registration. Discussion of the Bible by a group of people is not included in the list of extremist activities.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vladimirova and Galkevich in Smolensk","date":"2024-01-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/smolensk/index.html#20240123","regions":["smolensk"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments","punishment-request","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecution is requesting punishment for believers in the form of large fines: Dmitry Mikhailov - 1,200,000 rubles, taking into account the time of detention; Elena Mikhailova and Svetlana Ryzhkova — 600,000 rubles each; Svetlana Shishina and Alexei Arkhipov — 400,000 rubles each. Prior to the entry into force of the verdict, the prosecutor asks the court to take a written undertaking not to leave the place from the believers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Mikhaylovs and Others in Shuya","date":"2023-12-19T16:15:20+02:00","permalink":"/en/cases/shuya/index.html#20231219","regions":["ivanovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request","fine","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requested suspended term for the defendants: Yuriy Ponomarenko — 4 years, Oleg Sergeyev — 3 years and 6 months, and Nikolay Dikhtyar — 2 years.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ponomarenko and Others in Luchegorsk","date":"2023-12-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/luchegorsk2/index.html#20231215","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the defense begins.\nIvan Puida's lawyer is the first to speak. He draws the court's attention to the fact that there are no statements on the audio and video recordings of the materials under study in which a person or a group of persons is negatively evaluated. The defender says: \"The purpose of the participants in the meetings can be formulated as follows: to serve God, to show love for God.\"\nThe lawyer also reminds: \"The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has not liquidated any religious groups. This can be easily seen by referring to the List of Public Associations and Religious Organizations in Respect of Which the Court Made a Final Decision to Liquidate or Ban Activities on the Grounds Provided for by the Federal Law \"On Countering Extremist Activity\"... There are no liquidated religious groups of Jehovah's Witnesses on this List.\"\nThe defender states: \"The investigation ... mistakenly believing that the fact of liquidation of a religious organization deprives believers of the rights enshrined in Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, [even] did not look for signs of extremism in the actions of the defendants and did not impute any extremist actions to anyone. In this connection, all the defendants are subject to acquittal.\"\nThe defendant Ivan Puida himself draws attention to the unfounded nature of the prosecutor's accusations, the absence of victims and negative consequences, the lack of evidence of motives for committing a crime, as well as accusations of religious activity while in jail and under house arrest.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2023-12-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20231213","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Anna Kryuchenkova. Kirovsky District Court of Kazan (Kazan, Shosseynaya str., 3). Time: 14:00.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gerasimov in Kazan","date":"2023-12-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan4/index.html#20231207","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","sentence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Judge Andrei Slavinsky grants the state prosecutor's request to extend the current preventive measures for all believers until March 20, 2024: house arrest for Sergey Vasilyev, and detention for the rest of the defendants.\nIn Yaroslav's debate, defense lawyer Oksana Pajitnykh, who participates in the case along with her lawyer, says: \"My client is being tried for the same thing for which his parents were exiled to Siberia more than 70 years ago. Officially, for anti-state activities and undermining the constitutional order, and de facto, only for the fact that they were and remain Jehovah's Witnesses.\" She cites the fact that all the exiled Jehovah's Witnesses were later rehabilitated by the state, and now believers are persecuted under the same pretext.\nThe defender also says that Kalin has been practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses for more than 40 years and has lived in the village of Pivovarikha all his life: \"Yaroslav Kalin always helped everyone, responded to the misfortune of another person, was always ready to provide emotional, moral and physical support, supported the improvement of the village. He is non-conflicting, there have never been quarrels with neighbors ... And then, suddenly, he is tried as an extremist. But it can't be like that! A useful member of society cannot be an extremist.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Martynov and Others in Irkutsk","date":"2023-12-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/irkutsk/index.html#20231206","regions":["irkutsk"],"tags":["sizo","house-arrest","defense-arguments","final-statement","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks for all defendants to be sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony: Yaroslav Kalin, Nikolai Martynov, Aleksey Solnechny and Sergey Kosteev - 7 years each; Mikhail Moish and Andrey Tolmachev — 6 years and 8 months each; Igor Popov and Denis Sarazhakov — 6 years and 4 months each; Sergey Vasilyev is 3 years old.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Martynov and Others in Irkutsk","date":"2023-12-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/irkutsk/index.html#20231204","regions":["irkutsk"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","sizo","house-arrest","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to find Valeriy Rabota guilty under Part 1.1 and Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and to sentence him to 6 years in a general regime colony and 1.5 years of restriction of liberty.\nThe defense asks to acquit the defendant.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Valeriy Rabota in Knyaze-Volkonskoye","date":"2023-11-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/knyaze-volkonskoe/index.html#20231123","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly","retrial"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Tatyana Sushilnikova begins her speech in the debate with the words \"faith without works is dead\" and explains: \"All the actions of which I am accused, namely participation in worship services and the dissemination of doctrine, are nothing more than a manifestation of faith.\" Tatyana believes that the accusation is based on assumptions, because the prosecutor only proved that the believers gathered together, prayed, sang songs and discussed the Bible, while not a single witness confirmed her guilt under the imputed article. The lawyer adds that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited in Russia.\nAbout 60 people gathered outside the courthouse to support the defendant.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sushilnikova in Novokuznetsk","date":"2023-11-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novokuznetsk2/index.html#20231113","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yevgeny Bushev reads out his written notes and asks the prosecutor and the court to find in the case file and announce his words about the call for the overthrow of the constitutional order, about inciting hatred or destroying families - there is nothing like this among the \"evidence\" of Bushev's guilt.\nThe court shall proceed to the pleadings of the parties. The prosecutor draws attention to the results of a psycholinguistic religious examination, which, in her opinion, proves Yevgeny's guilt in the creation and continuation of the activities of an extremist organization. The defendant objects, noting that his name was not indicated in any of the legal documents available to law enforcement officers.\nThe prosecutor asks for a punishment for the believer in the form of 6 years in a general regime colony. The prosecution repeats more than once, including to the audience in the hall, incorrect information that the religious organization \"Jehovah's Witnesses\" is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.\nThe lawyer, speaking in the debate, emphasizes that the decision of the Supreme Court of April 20, 2017 concerns only the liquidation of legal associations and that the confession itself is not prohibited, and believers have the right to exercise the right to freedom of religion, guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The defense asks to find Bushev innocent.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Bushev in Chelyabinsk","date":"2023-10-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk8/index.html#20231025","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense is requesting the exclusion of the evidence provided by the prosecution: the conclusion of a psychologist and the survey of a religious scholar. These documents were drawn up even before the initiation of the criminal case. The court dismisses the petition.\nValery Rabota testifies.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Valeriy Rabota in Knyaze-Volkonskoye","date":"2023-10-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/knyaze-volkonskoe/index.html#20231025","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"The Bible taught me to show love instead of aggression, and instead of inflicting pain, the desire and willingness to help,\" Vladimir Baikalov delivers his last word.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Baykalov in Kemerovo","date":"2023-10-23T15:52:26+03:00","permalink":"/en/cases/kemerovo2/index.html#20231023","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","sentence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Alexei Khabarov participates in the pleadings and delivers his last word. The prosecutor requests a sentence of 4 years of imprisonment with restriction of liberty for a term of 6 months and a subsequent restriction not to change the place of residence without notifying the inspectorate.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Khabarov in Porkhov","date":"2023-10-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/porkhov/index.html#20231016","regions":["pskov"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","punishment-request"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor is requesting a large fine for Andrey Sazonov: 800,000 rubles under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and 700,000 rubles under Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Given the period of Sazonov's imprisonment and house arrest, the state prosecutor asks to reduce the total amount to 1,300,000 rubles.\nAndrey takes the lead.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sazonov in Uray","date":"2023-10-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/uray/index.html#20231005","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests for 83-year-old Zinaida Minenko a sentence of 5 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 5 years and restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year.\nAbout 55 people gather outside the courthouse, 10 of them are allowed into the courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Minenko in Zheleznovodsk","date":"2023-10-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zheleznovodsk/index.html#20231004","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["elderly","disability","punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to sentence the believers to imprisonment in a penal colony: Margarita Moiseenko - 3 years, Galina Yatsyk and Elena Yatsyk - 2.5 years each.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Margarita Moiseyenko and Others in Zeya","date":"2023-09-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zeya4/index.html#20230914","regions":["amur"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 5 years and 2 months in prison and 7 months of additional restrictions for Usanov and Morozov.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Usanov and Morozov in Tayga","date":"2023-08-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tayga/index.html#20230814","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense petitions to summon the specialists who conducted the comprehensive examination to the court. The defense draws the court's attention to the fact that it was performed with violations.\nThe defense argues to the court that the questions posed to specialists go beyond their special knowledge. Thus, in the materials of the criminal case there are no documents confirming that specialists have received higher education and the necessary training to perform state forensic examinations. In addition, some of the questions posed to the experts relate to the field of religion and psychology. \"None of the experts has the proper qualifications,\" the defense notes. Despite this, the court refuses to satisfy the petition.\nThe debate continues. The prosecutor reads the indictment again, but with minor additions. He asks to recover court costs from the defendants and leave material evidence in the storage room \"in connection with new criminal cases.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klyuchnikov and Others in Nizhnekamsk","date":"2023-08-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhnekamsk/index.html#20230810","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["defense-arguments","studies-violations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Lawyers of Denis Filatov and Stanislav Klyuchnikov speak in the debate. The prosecutor reads out the comprehensive examination, which he referred to in the debate. According to it, the recordings presented to the specialists contain calls for hatred and enmity on the part of the accused. However, the defense believes that the examination was carried out with serious violations. At the request of lawyers, the hearings are postponed to August 10.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klyuchnikov and Others in Nizhnekamsk","date":"2023-08-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhnekamsk/index.html#20230809","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments","studies-violations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"After a brief examination of the prosecution witness, the court proceeds to the pleadings of the parties. The prosecutor asks each defendant for 7 years in a penal colony and 2 years of restrictions after serving his sentence.\nIn his speech, the prosecutor refers to a comprehensive forensic psychological, linguistic and religious examination. The defense claims that this examination was not announced in court. The lawyer also draws attention to the fact that the prosecution did not provide concrete evidence of the guilt of the defendants and that the prosecutor substitutes concepts, accusing believers of continuing the activities of the liquidated legal entity.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klyuchnikov and Others in Nizhnekamsk","date":"2023-08-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhnekamsk/index.html#20230808","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments","studies-violations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"State prosecutor Ekaterina Trofimenko requests 6 years of real imprisonment in a colony for Ovchinnikova and Kocherova.\nBelievers deliver the last word.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kocherova and Ovchinnikova in Knyaze-Volkonskoye","date":"2023-08-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/knyaze-volkonskoe2/index.html#20230801","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","sentence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Oleg and Agnessa Postnikov make their final speech.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Postnikovs in Birobidzhan","date":"2023-07-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan19/index.html#20230710","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks for punishment for Lyubov Serebryakova. In his opinion, the believer should be sentenced to 4 years in prison, however, taking into account her age and state of health, he asks the court for 3 years probation with a written undertaking not to leave and restrictions.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Serebryakova in Novokuznetsk","date":"2023-06-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novokuznetsk3/index.html#20230628","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Prosecutor Dmitry Bondarev requests punishment under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: Bukin, Slashchev, Yuferov — 6 years and 6 months, Burkov — 6 years and 2 months in a penal colony.\nLawyers are asking for a full acquittal of the defendants. Then Vladimir Bukin and Valery Slashchev perform.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Bukin and Others in Tynda","date":"2023-06-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tynda/index.html#20230615","regions":["amur"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Pavel Kazadaev makes his final statement. \"Basically, the state wants me to renounce my faith,\" he says. \"How, then, can I practice my religion in accordance with the Constitution?\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kazadaev in Barnaul","date":"2023-05-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/barnaul/index.html#20230526","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","sentence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate, the prosecutor requested a sentence for Ivan Shulyuk — 6 years and 2 months in a penal colony.\nIvan Shulyuk delivers his final statement.\n11 people are watching what is happening in the courtroom - for the first time in the entire trial, the judge allows listeners to be present after the declared petition for publicity.\nIn his final statement, Ivan tells the court about the shooting of his grandfather and the expulsion of the rest of his relatives to Siberia during the Stalinist repression because they were Jehovah's Witnesses. Declaring that he cannot give up his beliefs, the believer explains: \"This is my spiritual heritage.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shulyuk in Nazarovo","date":"2023-05-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nazarovo/index.html#20230505","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["final-statement","punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vadim Fedorov: \"I am not being judged because I have done something bad, but because I am a Christian and glorify Jehovah God.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fedorov in Asha","date":"2023-04-27T14:47:14+03:00","permalink":"/en/cases/asha2/index.html#20230427","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the parties begins. The state prosecutor asks for a sentence of 6.5 years in a general regime colony. During his speech, the prosecutor says that if Fedorov met with fellow believers, it means that he organized meetings and thus allegedly continued the activities of the banned organization.\nThen the appointed lawyer speaks, who argues in favor of the innocence of the believer, emphasizing the groundlessness of the accusation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fedorov in Asha","date":"2023-04-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/asha2/index.html#20230426","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Dmytro Barmakin addresses the court with his last word.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Barmakin in Vladivostok","date":"2023-04-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vladivostok2/index.html#20230426","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Sergey Kuznetsov's lawyer appears in court. She recalls the reason for the ban on legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia: \"From the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 20.04.2017 in the case of the liquidation of Russian legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, it follows that the basis for its issuance was the incriminated facts of import and mass distribution of materials that were subsequently recognized as extremist, and not the joint confession and dissemination of the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses.\" Nevertheless, as the lawyer notes, \"neither the court nor the defense has been presented with a single fact and evidence\" that the defendant committed such actions.\nThe Defender draws attention to the clarification of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated October 28, 2021. According to it, \"if a religious association is recognized as extremist, believers can continue to exercise the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint confession of religion, worship or other religious rites and ceremonies, if they do not contain signs of extremism.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kuznetsov and Others in Nevinnomyssk","date":"2023-04-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nevinnomyssk/index.html#20230413","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to appoint each of the believers to 8 years in a general regime colony, to deprive them of the right to lead public organizations and participate in their work for 4 years, as well as to impose additional restrictions on freedom for 2 years.\nAll the defendants make their final statements. At the next hearing, the court will announce the verdict.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Korolev and Others in Akhtubinsk","date":"2023-04-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/akhtubinsk/index.html#20230412","regions":["astrakhan"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to send Irina Mikhailenko to a general regime colony for 4 years, and then restrict her freedom for 10 months.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mikhaylenko in Chelyabinsk","date":"2023-03-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk6/index.html#20230307","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate, the prosecutor asks for a punishment for Aleksandr - 7 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 5 years. The defense also speaks, after which Kalistratov pronounces his last word.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kalistratov in Gorno-Altaysk","date":"2023-02-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gorno_altaysk/index.html#20230215","regions":["altai"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Kuznetsk District Court of Novokuznetsk sentences Sergey Sushilnikov to 6 years of suspended imprisonment.\n","caseTitle":"Sushilnikov case in Novokuznetsk","date":"2023-01-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novokuznetsk/index.html#20230124","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","sentence"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to assign real terms of imprisonment to believers: Yevgeny Bitusov - 6.5 years in a general regime colony, and Leonid Druzhinin - 7 years in a general regime colony.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Druzhinin and Bitusov in Zeya","date":"2022-12-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zeya3/index.html#20221226","regions":["amur"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor is requesting suspended sentences for all defendants: Yevgeniy Grinenko and Sergey Kobelev for 6 years with a five-year probationary period, and Svetlana Efremova for 3 years with a two-year probationary period. The state prosecutor also asked the court to impose a restriction of freedom: Grinenko for a year and a half, and the rest for a year.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Grinenko and Others in Lesozavodsk","date":"2022-12-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesozavodsk/index.html#20221220","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests for a sentence of 8 years in a general regime colony, restriction of freedom for 1 year and 6 months (not to leave the municipality in which he will live after serving his sentence, not to change his place of residence and work without the consent of a specialized body, to appear in a specialized body for registration); deprivation of the right to engage in educational and educational activities for a period of 8 years.\nThe lawyer in his speech refutes the accusation of the prosecutor, referring to the lack of evidence.\nAbout 20 people come to the courthouse to support Gevorkyan, some have come a long way, having arrived at the hearing from Khabarovsk.\n","caseTitle":"Gevorkyan case in Nizhny Novgorod","date":"2022-12-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhniy-novgorod8/index.html#20221213","regions":["nizhegorod"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court sentences Vadim Gizatulin to 2 years of suspended imprisonment.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Gizatulin in Chelyabinsk","date":"2022-12-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk5/index.html#20221207","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement","sentence","suspended"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Alam Aliyev and Dmitry Zagulin speak in the debate. They focus the court's attention on the lack of evidence of their guilt.\nAliyev says: \"I and the other defendants in this criminal case did not commit extremist actions, for which legal entities were liquidated. None of us was even accused of 'mass distribution of knowingly extremist materials.'\"\nAlam Aliyev pays special attention to the decision of the European Court of Justice of 07.06.2022, which acquitted Jehovah's Witnesses and ordered the Russian Federation to stop criminal prosecution of believers and pay them compensation, including Alam Aliyev. The defendant continues: \"Taking into account the fact that I was an applicant before the European Court in this case, his decision must certainly be taken into account when sentencing me.\" Aliyev also notes that the main witness for the prosecution, police officer Yulia Zvereva, admitted that he did not call for either the overthrow of the government or extremist actions, thereby the witness unwittingly denied the accusation.\nDmitry Zagulin says: \"The text of the accusation is not specific. There are no factual circumstances, but only bare legal constructions: 'illegal activity', 'illegal religious event', 'illegal religious meeting', 'expenditure and transfer of funds'\". Regarding the accusation of funding, the believer states: \"Donations have always been an integral part of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. There is no evidence that would confirm that a specific amount of money was used or planned to be used to commit extremist activities.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Aliyev and Others in Birobidzhan","date":"2022-11-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan10/index.html#20221124","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"The accusations are unfounded and have no noble goals, they are nothing more than discrimination against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia,\" Anton Olshevskiy speaks before the court in the debate. After that, Sergey Yermilov and Sergey Afanasyev address the court with their last word.\n\"I have strived and will continue to strive to fulfill the command recorded in God's Word: 'Do not repay evil for evil to anyone,'\" Yermilov said. Afanasyev notes: \"The more than 100-year history of Jehovah's Witnesses has proved the non-extremist nature of the views of the followers of this religion.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Olshevskiy and Others in Blagoveshchensk","date":"2022-11-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/blagoveshchensk/index.html#20221124","regions":["amur"],"tags":["final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Lawyers for the defendants emphasize that the defendants only enjoyed the right to freedom of religion. They refer to several arguments. Firstly, there is no objective and subjective side of the prosecution in the case - none of the witnesses has any claims against the defendants, and there are no victims. Secondly, the believers held peaceful worship services, not meetings of a religious organization. Thirdly, the testimony of the FSB officer confirms that \"the defendants are not a structural unit\" of the legal entity.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Martynov and Others in Alatyr","date":"2022-11-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/alatyr/index.html#20221122","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks to appoint the believer to 6 years in prison. Igor Gusev, speaking in the debate, declares the inconsistency of the accusation, but those present note that the judge and the prosecutor practically do not listen to him.\n","caseTitle":"Gusev's case in Krasnoyarsk","date":"2022-11-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnoyarsk9/index.html#20221115","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","punishment-request"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"If we believed in God 'silently,' we wouldn't go anywhere... the case against us would not have been brought,\" Valery Kriger said in the debate. \"In other words, if we stopped believing in God, stopped being Christians, then we wouldn't be persecuted.\"\nThe believer makes an overview of the legal norms according to which his religious activities were within the law. In particular, he refutes in detail the accusation of financing extremism. Valery explains: \"Collecting donations is also an important aspect of freedom of religion, guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, since without financial resources, religious associations may not be able to provide religious services or ensure their survival.\"\nThe believer emphasizes that according to the materials of the case, the collection of money was carried out by a religious group, and not by a legal entity; Funds were raised for domestic needs, such as paying for gasoline, buying food. At the same time, they were not transferred in favor of liquidated legal entities.\n\"My actions are consistent with the confession of the Christian faith, are exclusively peaceful in nature and do not indicate the presence of hatred or enmity,\" the defendant declares.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Aliyev and Others in Birobidzhan","date":"2022-11-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan10/index.html#20221114","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Referee: Ravil Nusratov. Ashinsky City Court of the Chelyabinsk Region (Asha, Lenin St., 1).\n","caseTitle":"Case of Perminov in Asha","date":"2022-11-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/asha/index.html#20221103","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defendant, referring to the laws of the Russian Federation and the decisions of the Supreme Court, explains that the actions imputed to him are legal and peaceful ways of professing his faith.\nThe lawyer claims that Aleksandr Filatov is being persecuted only for his faith. In particular, he notes that the prosecution considered two pieces of paper with the inscription \"Jehovah\" to be evidence of the defendant's guilt.\n6 listeners are watching what is happening. About 50 people are waiting for news from the courtroom outside.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Filatov in Krasnoyarsk","date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnoyarsk8/index.html#20221020","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate, the prosecutor asks for a sentence of 6.5 years in prison for Aleksandr Seredkin to be served in a general regime colony.\n15 people come to support Alexander Seredkin, 14 of them are allowed into the hall. The defendant draws the court's attention to the fact that the material evidence attached to the case cannot characterize Jehovah's Witnesses as extremists. He says he is a law-abiding citizen who wants to help his neighbors.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Seredkin in Novosibirsk","date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk7/index.html#20221020","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"At the court session, the arguments of the parties are held. The prosecutor requests a suspended sentence of 6 years for the defendant, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public and religious organizations for a period of 3 years, and restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year.\nGalina Kobeleva gives her last word.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kobeleva in Lesozavodsk","date":"2022-10-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesozavodsk2/index.html#20221018","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["punishment-request","final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Speaking during the debate, the prosecutor requests 7 years and 6 months in a penal colony for Arsen Abdullaev, Marat Abdulgalimov and Anton Dergalev, and 6 years and 6 months in a penal colony for Maria Karpova.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Abdullaev and Others in Makhachkala","date":"2022-10-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/makhachkala/index.html#20221018","regions":["dagestan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The verdict is scheduled for October 19. Before that, the defendants again make their last word. Judge Ivan Kuznetsov asks them not to read out the text, but to speak in their own words.\nIn his appeal to the court, Mikhail Burkov notes: \"My way of life, which I lead as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, has shown that I have not caused any harm to anyone ... The commandments 'love thy neighbor as thyself' and 'love thy enemies' do not teach what I am accused of.\"\nVladimir Bukin says: \"If I am found guilty, it is guilty of loving God, his holy name and his word of the Bible, and not of resuming the activity of something that has not existed in nature since 2017.\"\nSergey Yuferov declares: \"My spiritual activity cannot be extremism. Extremist activity in all its forms and manifestations is unacceptable to me.\"\nValery Slashchev says: \"When we, Jehovah's Witnesses, are asked what we are being tried for, I don't even want to talk, because people can't understand how a person can be judged simply for his faith, despite the fact that there are no victims or victims - some kind of invisible and intangible extremism.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Bukin and Others in Tynda","date":"2022-10-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tynda/index.html#20221013","regions":["amur"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"State prosecutor Pavel Venin requests 4 years in a general regime colony for Dmitry and Nadezhda Semenov. At the same time, the prosecutor does not provide evidence of the guilt of the defendants, but reads out only excerpts from the indictment.\n","caseTitle":"The Semyonov case in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy","date":"2022-10-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/petropavlovsk_kamchatskiy/index.html#20221012","regions":["kamchatka"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","families"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor again asks to appoint Svetlana Monis 4 years of real imprisonment. The text of the state prosecutor's speech in the debate is identical to what was read out at the first consideration of the case.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Monis in Birobidzhan","date":"2022-10-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan4/index.html#20221005","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Defendant Andrei Ledyaykin speaks in the debate. In response to accusations of incitement to religious hatred, he stresses that no one was injured in this case, except for him and his family. The believer draws the court's attention: \"In the present case, the charge against me is based on the principle of criminalizing human actions depending on the religion I profess. The usual actions for every believer: participation in worship services and so on become, in the opinion of the state prosecutor, a crime ... It is obvious to me that the prosecution sees participation in the activities of an extremist organization in singing songs, praying, studying the Bible. That is why, in my testimony in the present case, I have consistently maintained that I do not fully admit my guilt.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ledyaykin in Seversk","date":"2022-04-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/seversk/index.html#20220415","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the parties continues. The defender of the believers notes that the defendants \"studied parts ... The Bible, while Kabak explained that she used her copy of this book. This book is not forbidden... And the activities of other Christian denominations are based on it, the organizations of which were not banned or recognized as extremist.\nIn his speech, Oleg Postnikov cites scientific information confirming that the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses in itself is neither extremist nor any other illegal ideology. Among other things, the believer quotes the dictionary \"Religions of the Peoples of Modern Russia\" edited by Doctor of Philosophy I. Y. Kanterov: \"State power is considered by Jehovah's Witnesses as a device that exists with the permission of God. They do not come into conflict with the law, respect order and law-abiding.\"\nThe believer continues: \"When I say, 'I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses,' I am only stating that I share the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and the ways in which they express them (e.g., that the command to teach others the commandments of Jesus Christ is given to all Christians without exception; or that meeting with fellow believers at worship services, praying to God, singing spiritual songs, reading the Bible, and strengthening one's faith and that of fellow believers is what Jesus expects of every person who calls himself a Christian).\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Postnikovs in Birobidzhan","date":"2022-04-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan19/index.html#20220412","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In the debate, the defense takes the floor. Judge Ivanov decides to resume the judicial investigation in the case of Smelov.\nThe next hearing is scheduled for February 14 and 15.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Smelov in Kondopoga","date":"2022-01-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kondopoga/index.html#20220127","regions":["karelia"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Eugene speaks in the debate.\nAt the next hearing, scheduled for December 24, the defendant is scheduled to make his last speech. On the same day, the court may issue a verdict.\n","caseTitle":"Korotun case in Seversk","date":"2021-12-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tomsk2/index.html#20211216","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"About 20 people come to the courthouse to support Andriy Kolisnichenko. Only the defendant's wife and son are allowed to attend the hearing.\nThe court granted the request for video filming during the announcement of the verdict, which is expected on January 19.\nSpeaking in the debate, Kolesnichenko draws attention to the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 28.06.2011 (as amended on 28.10.2021): \"The prosecution in this criminal case made its own portrait of an \"extremist\", ignoring the fact that to be or not to be a believer, to celebrate holidays or not to celebrate them, to transfuse blood or not, is, firstly, a right, and not an obligation of a citizen, and, secondly, does not constitute an offence.\"\nThen Kolesnichenko asks questions: \"If the Constitution of the Russian Federation allows me to be a believer, if the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has not banned the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, if the Government of the Russian Federation publicly declares that believers in Russia have the right to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses after April 20, 2017, and even if the President of the Russian Federation does not understand why Jehovah's Witnesses are being persecuted, then was I obliged to understand my religious rights in any other way, enshrined in Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation? Then why do they ascribe criminal motives to me? Thus, this criminal case is absolutely unpredictable and illogical for me, given that I did not commit anything criminal or unusual.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kolesnichenko in Seversk","date":"2021-12-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/seversk4/index.html#20211206","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Only the wife of Alexei Ershov is allowed to enter the courtroom.\nThe judge attaches copies of certificates of honor and letters of thanks to the defendant to the case file.\nThe court shall proceed to the pleadings of the parties. In his speech, the prosecutor refers to Klisheva's testimony, to her video recordings of worship services and an audio recording of a conversation with Ershov, as well as to materials collected during searches of the defendant's home.\nThe prosecutor proposes to reclassify Ershov's charge from Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of an extremist organization) to Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). He asks the court to sentence the believer to 5 years in a penal colony.\nThe lawyer in his speech asks to acquit the defendant.\nThe hearing is postponed to November 22, 2021 so that the prosecutor can prepare a remark.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ershov in Seversk","date":"2021-10-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/seversk3/index.html#20211027","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the parties continues. The believers' lawyers draw the court's attention to the fact that their clients did not commit actions that fit the definition of extremism, and also remind that the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2017 does not prohibit Jehovah's Witnesses from continuing to practice their faith.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2021-09-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20210902","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Valery Rogozin takes the floor in the debate. He states: \"In order to sentence me to 9 years in prison, the prosecutor's office must have very good reasons that have not been presented.\" He further refutes all counts of the indictment.\nResponding to the charge of organizing the activities of an extremist community, Rogozin explains that the term \"elder\" is not a legal, but a canonical concept.\nValery also provides evidence that the secret witness gave false testimony.\nRogozin draws attention to the fact that the criminal prosecution of believers in Russia grossly violates the Constitution, and connivance on the part of the authorities leads to the fact that Russia does not fulfill its international obligations, in particular, relating to the observance of human rights.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2021-09-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20210901","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"27 people come to the meeting.\nDuring the debate, Sergei Melnyk rejected the accusations of extremism, drawing the court's attention to the fact that the prosecutor's office did not provide any solid evidence of the believers' guilt.\nIgor Egozaryan reminds the court that Christians have been persecuted before, and cites the example of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany and the USSR. He also states that during the hearings, secret prosecution witnesses gave false testimony against the defendants.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2021-08-31T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20210831","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In the debate, the defendant and his lawyer speak. According to Andrey Gubin, the prosecution mistakenly qualified the lawful behavior of the believer as criminal activity. He stresses that he did not disseminate ideas related to any discrimination against others, did not harm anyone. His participation in worship services and his religious beliefs were and are exclusively peaceful in nature and have nothing to do with extremism, the believer emphasizes. He also refers to a number of documents submitted by the Russian Federation to international bodies, according to which the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses are not prohibited in Russia. \"The illegality of my actions during the judicial investigation was not proven,\" the defendant declares.\nThe believer plans to deliver his last word in court on September 8.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Gubin in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-08-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan18/index.html#20210830","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court resumes hearings at the stage of argument of the parties. The first of the defendants is Denis Peresunko. He says that he values the Bible and considers it necessary to introduce this book to others, emphasizing that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses was not banned by the decision of the Supreme Court. Peresunko also notes that he has never refused high-quality and safe medical treatment.\nAt the next session, Sergey Melnik and Igor Yegorzaryan are scheduled to speak in the debate.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2021-08-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20210830","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In the debate, Anstasia Guzeva's lawyer and the believer herself take the floor.\nIn her speech, Guzeva notes that during the court hearings it was proved that there was no crime in the actions that are imputed to her. Anastasia explains why she did not stop professing the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses and meeting with fellow believers: \"Stop fulfilling the commandments of Christ, who gathered his disciples together and taught them ... means [for me] a renunciation of the faith.\"\nRegarding the video recordings of the services, which the investigation presented as evidence of her guilt, Anastasia states: \"[When watching the videos] it was absolutely clearly established that there were no calls to commit illegal actions against any group of people or against any person. On the contrary, you and I have heard and seen how believers, including myself, have been encouraged to do good to other people.\"\nAt the next meeting, Anastasia is scheduled to deliver her last word.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Guzeva in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-07-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan16/index.html#20210729","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Dmitry Terebilov took the floor in the debate. He draws attention to the participation of dubious experts and witnesses in the case, to the use of knowingly false information in the materials. Thus, he points out that Farida Akhunzyanova in her examination considered the famous religious scholar Sergey Ivanenko to be Jehovah's Witness only because he quotes the Bible in his book.\nTerebilov says that the material evidence in the case is subject to destruction, while among them are 10 copies of the Bible in a translation that is not prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation. The believer compares this fact with what happened during the medieval Inquisition.\nDmitriy Terebilov says: \"Violence is incompatible with the religious canons by which I live. It was thanks to what was written in the Bible that I began to change my life for the better and get rid of bad habits (smoking, foul language, drug use). I have a family, which I value very much, so the accusation of undermining family relations sounds ... ridiculous and unfounded.\" The believer asks the court: \"Why should I stop practicing my religion? Why should I stop associating with fellow believers? Why should I stop reading the Bible, praying, telling others about God? [...] And why should I go to a colony for 5 years for this?\"\nThe prosecutor calls on the court to be critical of the testimony of religious scholar Sergei Ivanenko, to whom Terebilov refers. The prosecution motivates this only by the fact that information about this specialist can be found on the website of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Terebilov in Kostroma","date":"2021-07-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kostroma/index.html#20210728","regions":["kostroma"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the defendant's lawyer. He makes a detailed analysis of the charges, pointing to the inconsistency of the evidence base, including the violations committed during the investigation of the criminal case.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Terebilov in Kostroma","date":"2021-07-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kostroma/index.html#20210723","regions":["kostroma"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The lawyer speaks with the debate, citing the facts of violation of international and Russian law, as well as evidence of the innocence of Natalia Krieger.\n","caseTitle":"The Kriger Case in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-07-19T17:14:30+03:00","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan17/index.html#20210719","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Anna Lokhvitskaya and her lawyer speak in the debate. On July 19, Anna will say the last word. On the same day, the court may announce the verdict.\n","caseTitle":"Case of A. Lokhvitskaya in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-07-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan12/index.html#20210715","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate of the parties, the believer declares that she does not accept the ideas of extremism. The court did not present evidence of accusations of illegal activities of Irina, says her lawyer.\nAt the next meeting, the believer will deliver her last word. On the same day, the verdict may be announced.\n","caseTitle":"The case of I. Lokhvitskaya in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-07-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan14/index.html#20210714","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Tatiana Sholner speaks in the debate. She draws the court's attention to the fact that, under the European Convention, a State does not have the right to decide which beliefs may or may not be taught.\nAccording to the defendant, the state prosecution focused on proving the existence of some kind of organization among believers and their belonging to the denomination of Jehovah's Witnesses instead of specifying specific facts of criminal activity. Therefore, Tatyana emphasizes: \"All the actions imputed to me are fully consistent with the constitutional norm: 'everyone is guaranteed... the right to profess... together with others... religion.\" And my actions were legitimate... I did not disseminate extremist materials, did not call for violence, aggression, discord, hatred, enmity.\"\nTatyana also mentions that prosecution witness Yulia Zvereva, who participates in many trials of Birobidzhan believers, gave false testimony. For example, she said that she had known Scholner since 2015, but Tatiana became one of Jehovah's Witnesses only in 2017 and saw Zvereva for the first time in the courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Scholner in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-06-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan13/index.html#20210617","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the pleadings, the prosecutor requests 5 and a half years in prison for Yuriy Belosludtsev, and 5 years in prison for Sergey Sergeyev.\nLawyers and believers themselves also speak in the debates, proving to the court that the defendants' beliefs are incompatible with extremism, and the accusations of crimes are groundless.\nOn June 28, Sergeev and Belosludtsev will make their final speech. On the same day, the court may issue a verdict.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Sergeyev and Belosludtsev in Luchegorsk","date":"2021-06-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/luchegorsk/index.html#20210608","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate of the parties is taking place. The state prosecutor states that \"the correction of Anna Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya is impossible without isolation from society.\" He requests for her 4 years of serving a sentence in a general regime colony, followed by restrictions for 2 years: not to change her permanent place of residence without the permission of a specialized body, to appear at the criminal inspectorate 2 times a month to monitor her behavior.\n","caseTitle":"Case of A. Lokhvitskaya in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-05-31T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan12/index.html#20210531","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In addition to the participants in the trial, 20 people are allowed to attend the hearing. Aleksandr Bondarchuk's lawyer takes the floor in the debate. She notes that the prosecution did not provide any evidence that Bondarchuk committed criminal, extremist actions. She also explains that the accusation of the defendant in financing extremist activities is based only on the fact that Bondarchuk and Yavushkin allegedly paid 1,000 rubles for renting a pool for performing the rite of baptism, which in itself is not prohibited by law.\nThe lawyer cites positive characteristics of Bondarchuk from friends and colleagues, and also recalls that he has never been a member of the LRO.\nFurther, Bondarchuk himself enters the debate. He reports that the accusations are based on the testimony of the expert Schiller. Bondarchuk cites a number of proofs that Schiller does not have the necessary professional training to conduct a religious examination, since he is a historian by education, not a religious scholar.\nBondarchuk argues that the expert's conclusions are biased and were initially aimed at a negative assessment of the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, although the Supreme Court did not give such an assessment.\nThe next meeting will be held on May 17, 2021 at 10:00. The remarks of the parties, the last word of the defendants, and, possibly, the announcement of the verdict are planned.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Yavushkin and Bondarchuk in Kemerovo","date":"2021-04-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kemerovo/index.html#20210426","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A small hall on the ground floor has been allocated for the court session, so not all those who come to support the believers can be accommodated there.\nIn the debate, a lawyer by appointment speaks. She draws attention to the fact that believers are charged with \"preliminary conspiracy\" to continue the activities of the banned organization, which, according to the investigation, occurred no later than May 27, 2017. The lawyer draws attention to the fact that the decision of the Supreme Court to liquidate the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses entered into force only on July 17, 2017. In this regard, she asks the question: \"Can this circumstance confirm the existence of a conspiracy to commit a crime by Yavushkin and Bondarchuk, which does not exist on that date?\"\nFurther, the lawyer points out that there is no evidence of extremist motives of Bondarchuk and Yavushkin in the case materials. The presence of aggression, cruelty and coercion to baptism and acceptance of faith was denied even by prosecution witnesses who appeared before the court.\nThe lawyer notes that the testimonies of key prosecution witnesses Akinyaev and Petrova are \"partly far-fetched, partly false, contradictory, and also distorted by the investigator.\"\nThe lawyer also comments on the videos of the services: \"Not a single recording contained any arguments, expressions, appeals testifying to their extremist orientation ... There was no mention of any exclusivity or superiority of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses over other religions.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Yavushkin and Bondarchuk in Kemerovo","date":"2021-04-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kemerovo/index.html#20210419","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["first-instance","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to find 78-year-old Vasily Reznichenko guilty of participating in extremist activities and to sentence the elderly believer to 2 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 8 months, taking into account his advanced age and state of health. The defense asks to fully acquit Reznichenko for lack of corpus delicti.\nVasily Reznichenko speaks in the debate of the parties. He notes: \"The lawful conduct of a person who professes the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses has been wrongly interpreted as a criminal offense.\" Meetings with fellow believers to worship God \"do not mean the continuation or resumption of the illegal activities of the liquidated organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Reznichenko in Zeya","date":"2021-04-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zeya/index.html#20210412","regions":["amur"],"tags":["punishment-request","elderly","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the hearing, the court makes a decision on the production of additional expertise in the case. In this regard, the hearings are postponed indefinitely.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2021-04-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20210406","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Roman Baranovsky speaks in the debate. He draws the court's attention to the fact that in this trial the prosecution was unable to provide any evidence of his guilt either in promoting the superiority of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses over other religions, or in organizing money collections, or in mass distribution of prohibited literature, or in any other crime. \"The prosecution did not cite a single specific extremist statement or act on my part, and this is not surprising, since there are no such statements in the case materials,\" the believer notes, \"I see that the prosecution used a certain template against me, which is often heard in the media, to indiscriminately defame those they do not like.\" From the materials considered by the court, it is obvious that the defendant discussed biblical principles directly opposite to what he is charged with, such as \"do not give up, doing good\", \"forgive your enemies\", \"let us do good to all\".\nRoman Baranovsky draws the court's attention to the bias and incompetence of the experts who gave opinions in the criminal case, as well as prosecution witnesses, one of whom stated in her testimony that she \"does not like ... [Baranovskiy] because they are Jehovah's Witnesses.\"\nAt the end of his speech, the believer says that in the end, \"his confession of the unforbidden faith of Jehovah's Witnesses by unforbidden means in accordance with Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation\" was proved.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Baranovskiy in Abakan","date":"2021-02-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/abakan/index.html#20210211","regions":["khakassia"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Valentina Baranovskaya speaks in the debate in the Abakan City Court.\nShe notes that the 5 years in prison requested by the prosecutor for her and 8 years for Roman is a record cruel punishment. At the same time, neither the case materials nor witness testimony confirm that the defendants committed actions or appeals of an extremist nature.\nValentina says: \"It does not follow from the content of my conversations presented in the materials of the criminal case that I had an intent to commit extremist actions ... My only intention is to remain a Christian.\"\nShe also notes that the investigation did not find a single copy of banned literature in her house, and the fact of mass distribution of any materials from the FSEM list was not established.\nIn her speech, Valentina emphasizes that her religious views are based on the Bible and are expressed in love for people, which is the exact opposite of what is called extremism. According to the believer, in fact, she is accused of believing in God and talking about it with her family and friends.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Baranovskiy in Abakan","date":"2021-02-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/abakan/index.html#20210208","regions":["khakassia"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Igor Tsarev's defender speaks in the debate. He draws the court's attention to the fact that the investigation did not prove either the fact of the crime or the existence of intent and motive to commit it. The lawyer explains that certain groups of Birobidzhan believers did not violate any laws by attending worship services. Igor Tsarev was never a member of the LRO of Jehovah's Witnesses in Birobidzhan and legally exercised his constitutional right to freedom of religion.\nJudge Alexei Ivashchenko gives the floor to Igor Tsarev. The believer explains: \"For me, as a believer, the concept of 'believing within oneself' is unacceptable. Faith, first of all, is confirmed by works. [...] I base my behavior and faith in God on the Bible. And it is a world cultural heritage.\" The defendant was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness in 1997 and does not understand why, after the decision of the Supreme Court of April 20, 2017 - 20 years later - baptism began to be imputed to him. In addition, the prosecution considers the fact that Igor Tsarev, together with his fellow believers, discussed a passage from the Gospel of Matthew as evidence of extremist activity. The defendant concludes: \"The prosecution mistakenly calls the usual religious activities of a believer a crime.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Tsarev in Birobidzhan","date":"2021-02-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan8/index.html#20210202","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor filed a motion to resume the judicial investigation and summon for questioning historian Maria Serdyuk, who conducted a religious examination of the case. Earlier during the debate, Ledenyov presented to the judge arguments indicating that the examination was carried out with violations, and the expert's position was openly biased against Jehovah's Witnesses. The trial will continue on November 11.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ledenyov in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy","date":"2020-11-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy/index.html#20201110","regions":["kamchatka"],"tags":["final-statement","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 21, 2020, the Maysky District Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic held a hearing in the case of Yuri Zalipaev. Lawyer Anton Omelchenko in his speech with the help of expert opinions and other facts proved the absurdity of the accusation against the believer.\n","date":"2020-09-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/34.html","regions":["kabardino-balkar"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Speech of lawyer Anton Omelchenko in court pleadings in the city of Maysky (Kabardino-Balkaria)","type":"docs"},{"body":"In the Pervomaisky District Court of Omsk, the debate of the parties begins. The prosecutor requests 6 years and 6 months of real imprisonment for Sergey Polyakov under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Anastasia Polyakova, Dinara Dyusekeyeva and Gaukhar Bektemirova (charged under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) are asked by the state prosecutor to be sentenced to 2 years of suspended imprisonment.\nAfter the prosecutor's speech, the believers themselves speak in the debate.\nThe position of the lawyer in the debate will be presented on September 24, 2020. On the same day, the defendants will address the court with the last word, and the judge may announce the date of the announcement of the verdict.\n","caseTitle":"Case of the Polyakovs and Others in Omsk","date":"2020-09-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/omsk2/index.html#20200917","regions":["omsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1","282.2-2"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"During the debate in the Sverdlovsk District Court, lawyers of the Rayman family speak, proving that the activities of believers were connected exclusively with the peaceful fulfillment of biblical commandments. In addition, the accused believers themselves speak in the debate. The court postpones the appeal of Valeria and Sergey Rayman with the last word until October 5, 2020. It is not known whether the verdict will be passed on that day.\n","caseTitle":"Case of the Raymans in Kostroma","date":"2020-09-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kostroma2/index.html#20200908","regions":["kostroma"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The debate continues in court, the defendant speaks, as well as the defense. The lawyer draws attention to the fact that the local religious organization was liquidated on April 17, 2017, so the defendant's participation in it is impossible. The lawyer also notes that the prosecutor's office does not separate the concepts of \"assembly\" and \"LRO\", and the fact of propaganda of the exclusivity of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses has not been proven.\nHassan Kogut's last word is scheduled for August 31, 2020.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kogut in Beryozovsky","date":"2020-08-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/beryozovsky/index.html#20200820","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In his appeal to the court, lawyer Anton Omelchenko noted that \"a peaceful conversation about God in the circle of fellow believers or with other people without calls for violence, discrimination and degrading treatment of any public group cannot have a public danger.\"\n","date":"2020-08-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/26.html","regions":["bryansk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Speech of lawyer Anton Omelchenko in court pleadings in Novozybkov","type":"docs"},{"body":"The Novozybkovsky City Court of the Bryansk Region concludes the judicial investigations by attaching to the case documents on the health of the accused and their relatives, indicating that Vladimir Khokhlov suffered a hypertensive crisis after his arrest, and the search and detention of Eduard Zhinzhikov actually led to the death of his unborn child.\nDuring the debate, state prosecutor Yevgeny Dyldin recommends that the court find 4 believers guilty and sentence them to suspended imprisonment: Eduard Zhinzhikov — 7 years and 10 months with a ban on holding leadership positions for 4 years and restriction of liberty for 1.5 years; Vladimir Khokhlov — 7.5 years plus a ban on holding senior positions for 4 years with restriction of freedom for 1 year and 5 months; Tatyana Shamsheva — 3 years and 2 months plus 6 months of restriction of freedom; Olga Silaeva was sentenced to 3 years with restriction of liberty for a term of 6 months.\nIn the debate, defender Anton Omelchenko speaks.\nThe accused Eduard Zhinzhikov makes his last speech. Following him, Olga Silaeva addresses with the last word. The court unexpectedly adjourns. The last word of Vladimir Khokhlov and Tatiana Shamsheva will be heard on September 3, 2020.\nDespite the fact that the state prosecutor recommended that the court appoint a suspended sentence, Khokhlov and Zhinzhikov will continue to wait for the verdict in the pre-trial detention center, where they have been held for 10 months.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Khokhlov and Zhinzhikov in Novozybkov","date":"2020-08-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novozybkov/index.html#20200812","regions":["bryansk"],"tags":["first-instance","punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In the debate, the defendant himself speaks. \"I did not commit illegal acts, did not create illegal organizations and did not violate the law of the Russian Federation, and joint discussion of the Bible with friends is an inalienable right enshrined in the Constitution,\" the believer declares. He draws the court's attention to the fact that the testimony of witnesses at the trial refutes the accusatory position of the prosecutor. The court adjourns until July 21. On this day, Spirin must speak in court with his last word. No date has been set for announcing the verdict, but the court may issue a verdict on the same day.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Spirin in Furmanov","date":"2020-07-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/furmanov/index.html#20200714","regions":["ivanovo"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 1, 2020, 61-year-old Gennadiy Shpakovskiy, speaking at the last word in Pskov City Court, did not plead guilty to extremism and stressed that he is under the trial purely for his faith. The prosecutor asked for 7.5 years in a general regime colony and 1.5 years of freedom restrictions.\nReferring to repeated decisions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council demanding a halt to repression against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, Gennadiy Shpakovskiy filed an application with the prosecutor's office and the court to stop the criminal case. Judge Galina Belik did not find it necessary to take this into account.\n[i18n] Learn more The last word of Gennadiy Shpakovsky At the court hearing, the prosecutor asked for Gennadiy's longest term, which was announced in the courts during the religious persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in modern Russia - 7.5 years in a general regime colony with subsequent restriction of liberty of 1.5 years.\nAfter the debate, the prosecutor's and Gennadiy Shpakovskiy's closing remarks, judge Belik left to deliver the verdict, which is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on June 8, 2020.\nUpdate. On June 8, Judge Belik postponed the announcement of the verdict to 9:00 on June 9. Gennadiy Shpakovskiy is charged with organizing and financing a banned organization (article 282. 2 (1) и 282. 3 (1) OF THE CRIMINAL CODE). The initiation of criminal proceedings against him became known 2 years ago after humiliating mass searches of believers in Pskov. Before that, he had been followed for several months, collecting \"evidence\". - evidence that he continues to read the Bible with believers and speak to other residents about God.\n","category":"trial","date":"2020-06-03T17:04:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/06/4/image_hu_4024d5ea21cb9f9a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/06/4/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/06/4/image_hu_806c158f4767e9b6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/06/4/image_hu_a5401c90f335a5f1.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/06/4.html","regions":["pskov"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["prosecutor-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1","282.3-1","elderly"],"title":"The Pskov Prosecutor Asked to Imprison Gennadiy Shpakovskiy for Record 7.5 Years for Faith in Jehovah. The Verdict Will Be Announced on June 8","type":"news"},{"body":"On January 24, 2020, at 11:00 a.m., the judge of the Polyarny District Court of the Murmansk Region is scheduled to announce the verdict to two friends, Roman Markin and Viktor Trofimov. The prosecutor requested 6 years for Markin and 6 years and 5 months in prison for Trofimov because both believe in Jehovah God and try to live according to the principles of Christianity.\nOn the eve of the announcement of the verdict, we publish excerpts from Roman Markin's speech in the debate. On January 15, 2020, he told the court about the campaign to discredit Jehovah's Witnesses, the misinterpretation of their activities, as well as the grounds on which Christians do what the security forces biasedly classify as extremism.\n","category":"trial","date":"2020-01-22T11:32:05+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/01/2/image_hu_4c2cc0d0e73c4da2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/01/2/image_hu_2c5eec9fc0aab3b7.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/01/2/image_hu_d870761f99e72df4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/01/2/image_hu_83844e6835fd2c0a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/01/21.html","regions":["murmansk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments"],"title":"Jehovah's Witness and extremist are mutually exclusive concepts.\" Speech by Roman Markin in the debate at his trial in Polyarny","type":"news"},{"body":"Debate in the Karpinsky City Court. The presiding judge is Gabbasova S.V. The prosecutor asks for 3 years of probation and 3 years of probation for Alexander Pryanikov and Venera Dulova; for Daria Dulova - 2 years of probation and 2 years of probation.\nThe sentencing is expected on January 27 at 9:30 a.m.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2020-01-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk/index.html#20200120","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Transcript of the court hearing dated 01/15/2020 in case 1-23/2019 on charges of R.N. Markin and V.F. Trofimov in committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.\n","date":"2020-01-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/5.html","regions":["murmansk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Roman Markin's speech at the court pleadings in Polyarny","type":"docs"},{"body":"On December 12, 2019, all six Jehovah's Witnesses addressed the court with their last word. The court retired to the deliberation room. The verdict will be announced on December 13, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. in the Leninsky District Court of Penza at 36 Volodarsky Street.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-12-12T15:53:38+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/12/1465/1258_montazhnaya_oblast_1_montazhnaya_oblast_1_hu_ec37a9fa8c7c7a8c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/12/1465/1258_montazhnaya_oblast_1_montazhnaya_oblast_1_hu_de793629c34d956c.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/12/1465/1258_montazhnaya_oblast_1_montazhnaya_oblast_1_hu_c3b88c77ace6bc4a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/12/1465/1258_montazhnaya_oblast_1_montazhnaya_oblast_1_hu_ed6aec9174a4c6e7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/12/1465.html","regions":["penza"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments","prosecutor-request"],"title":"The verdict for believers in Penza will be announced on December 13, 2019. Prosecutor's Office Asks for 3 to 7 Years in Prison for Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 10, 2019, the defense of six Jehovah's Witnesses demanded that the court fully acquit them for not being involved in any extremist activity. On December 12, the defendants will make their final statement. After that, Judge Roman Tanchenko will announce the verdict.\nEarlier, on December 5, the prosecutor requested 7 years of real imprisonment for Vladimir Alushkin, 4 years of imprisonment for Andrey Magliv, Vladimir Kulyasov and Denis Timoshin for 4 years in prison, and 3 years of imprisonment for Tatyana Alushkina and Galiya Olkhova. For everyone except Vladimir Alushkin, the prosecutor proposes to replace the prison with forced labor.\nVladimir Alushkin, whom the prosecutor's office proposes to send to jail for 7 years, appealed his arrest to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. On October 1, 2019, the UN Working Group, having studied the explanations provided by the Russian authorities, promulgated its resolution: the arrest of believer Vladimir Alushkin was illegal! The UN regarded what was happening in Russia as \"systemic and institutionalized persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses\" (paragraph 65).\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-12-11T15:53:30+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/12/1463/depositphotos15812491_hu_f1f56aae5fa1d218.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/12/1463/depositphotos15812491.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/12/1463/depositphotos15812491_hu_b0243de96b4b29d4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/12/1463/depositphotos15812491_hu_5e6af4cb51aea851.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/12/1463.html","regions":["penza"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments","families"],"title":"On December 12, six innocent people may be sentenced in Penza. Prosecutor's Office Asks for 3 to 7 Years in Prison for Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"The defense in the debate demands that the court fully acquit all six in connection with their non-involvement in any extremist activity. Judge Roman Tanchenko announces that on December 12, the defendants will make their last speech, after which the verdict will be announced.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Alushkin and Others in Penza","date":"2019-12-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/penza/index.html#20191210","regions":["penza"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On November 5, 2019, in the Ordzhonikidze District Court of Perm, Alexei Metzger , persecuted for his faith, provided a lot of evidence that reading and discussing the Bible is not a crime, but the daily life of a believer. Read the full text of his speech below.\nOn November 12, the defendant will make his last speech, after which the verdict will be passed.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-11-12T12:15:56+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/11/1350/img_20190406_173622_2_1_hu_e5531f8c0bfe577d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/11/1350/img_20190406_173622_2_1.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/11/1350/img_20190406_173622_2_1_hu_48d16738a896de34.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/11/1350/img_20190406_173622_2_1_hu_c45dcad31cd86c78.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/11/1350.html","regions":["perm"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments"],"title":"Alexei Metzger's speech at the pleadings in Perm","type":"news"},{"body":"Speaking on October 30, 2019 in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk, the defendant Sergey Klimov explained why the charges against him were unfounded and biased. Read the full text of his speech.\nA day earlier, his lawyer spoke at the hearing.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-11-04T14:17:47+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/11/1316/web_image_klimov_sergey_hu_d4393a29e9febbe9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/11/1316/web_image_klimov_sergey.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/11/1316/web_image_klimov_sergey_hu_1a17233ca047b93b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/11/1316/web_image_klimov_sergey_hu_d6e5cddc2ffb5e7b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/11/1316.html","regions":["tomsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["courtroom","defense-arguments"],"title":"Sergey Klimov's speech at the pleadings in Tomsk","type":"news"},{"body":" Transcript of the court hearing dated 30.10.2019 in case 1-417/2019 on charges of Klimov S.G. in committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation\n","date":"2019-11-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/1315.html","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Speech in the debate by Sergei Klimov","type":"docs"},{"body":"The debate of the parties continues. The defendant takes the floor. He explains why the accusations against him are unfounded.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klimov in Tomsk","date":"2019-10-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tomsk/index.html#20191030","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On October 28, 2019, a lawyer spoke in the debate on the case of Sergey Klimov, which is being heard in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk. Earlier, the prosecutor requested 7 years in prison for the believer.\nThe debate will continue on 30 October. Read the chronicle of the process.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-10-29T18:43:29+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/10/1309/190528_tomsk_klimov_hu_cf15208d1094dbf6.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/10/1309/190528_tomsk_klimov.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/10/1309/190528_tomsk_klimov_hu_173bc75e17a01189.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/10/1309/190528_tomsk_klimov_hu_d4f0a2a9fe0f0755.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/10/1309.html","regions":["tomsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["courtroom","defense-arguments"],"title":"The full text of the speech of the lawyer defending Klimov in Tomsk is published","type":"news"},{"body":"On October 28, 2019, lawyer Artur Leontiev, who defends Sergey Klimov in Tomsk, spoke in the debate.\n","date":"2019-10-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/1307.html","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Speech by lawyer Artur Leontiev defending Sergei Klimov","type":"docs"},{"body":"The judge rejects the motion to film media representatives during the court hearing.\nSpeaking in the debate, lawyer Leontiev draws attention to the fact that: the prosecutor's office and the investigator base their judgments in the Klimov case on the testimony of a secret witness, but these testimonies prove his cooperation with law enforcement agencies, since there is a clear correspondence between his words and the text of the certificates signed by law enforcement officer A. S. Dudko; the defendant is a member of the international confession of Jehovah's Witnesses, and not of any legal organization banned in the territory of the Russian Federation, and only professed his religion together with fellow believers; Klimov's accusation of distributing materials from a banned Internet resource is unfounded, since there is no evidence that the seized publications were downloaded from the banned site; there are no facts of storage and distribution of prohibited literature; there is no evidence of the defendant's criminal intent; previous court decisions do not prohibit the practice of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses; Conviction in the correctness of one's religion cannot be considered extremism. Draws attention to the decisions of authoritative international bodies in favor of individual Jehovah's Witnesses. Asks to acquit the defendant.\nThe next meetings are scheduled for October 30 and November 5.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klimov in Tomsk","date":"2019-10-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tomsk/index.html#20191028","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On August 30, 2019, speaking in a debate in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Khabarovsk, Assistant Prosecutor Anatoly Grigorenko announced that Valery Moskalenko, who has been in jail for 13 months, should be sent to a general regime colony for 3 years just because he professes faith in Jehovah God. Before the pre-trial detention center, Valeriy lived with his elderly mother and provided her with daily care, which she desperately needs. Read the chronicle of the process.\nAn episode of Moskalenko's life, which the local FSB considered a crime, was a meeting of friends in the conference room of the hotel, during which he read the words from the Gospel: \"Learn from the lilies of the field how they grow: they do not work and do not spin, but I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory did not dress like any of them. If God dresses the plants of the field in this way, which are there today and will be thrown into the furnace tomorrow, then will He not clothe you, you of little faith? So never worry and say, 'What should we eat?' or 'What should we drink?' or 'What should I wear?'\" Moskalenko explained to the court that his comments on the Sermon on the Mount were exclusively peaceful. He talked about how to overcome worries about economic difficulties.\nLawyers spoke in the debate of the parties. At the end of the debate of the parties, the defendant addressed the court with the last word, after which the court will retire to the deliberation room for sentencing.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-08-30T10:18:39+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/08/1114/2019083016169_hu_308a4c3a83f17e5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/08/1114/2019083016169.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/08/1114/2019083016169_hu_af343531ab5735d9.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/08/1114/2019083016169_hu_610cfb9ec5d8c937.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/08/1114.html","regions":["khabarovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["prosecutor-request","sizo","liberty-deprivation","defense-arguments"],"title":"In Khabarovsk, the prosecution requested 3 years in prison for reading a passage from Christ's Sermon on the Mount. The verdict will be announced on September 2","type":"news"},{"body":"Transcript and audio recording of Dennis Christensen's 50-minute speech in the debate at the appeal hearing in the Oryol Regional Court on May 16, 2019.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-05-16T17:06:42+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/05/850/christensen_0_2_hu_10c950a52b9622d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/05/850/christensen_0_2.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/05/850/christensen_0_2_hu_cc8155b9c08ec28d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/05/850/christensen_0_2_hu_2697bcaa226cb8fe.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/05/850.html","regions":["oryol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom","appeal","audio"],"title":"Dennis Christensen's statement in the debate at the appeal hearing","type":"news"},{"body":"Dennis Christensen's address in the debate on January 30, 2019.\n","date":"2019-02-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/591.html","regions":["oryol"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Dennis Christensen's intervention in the debate","type":"docs"},{"body":"On January 30, 2019, the hearing of arguments in the case of Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen concluded in Oryol. Judge Alexei Rudnev announced that the verdict would be announced in court on February 6, 2019 at 11:00 a.m.\nThe defense asked to fully acquit the believer, while the prosecution demands that he be sent to a colony for 6 and a half years.\nAddress of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Orel: st. Maxim Gorky, 45-a.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-01-30T16:16:25+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/01/589/17069_hu_f40f03959bc87dd8.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/01/589/17069_hu_f6b5059848d9248a.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/01/589/17069_hu_4d45dd8bff881b17.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/01/589/17069_hu_2e1805366d038ebc.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/01/589.html","regions":["oryol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments"],"title":"Announcement: the verdict for the believer in Oryol will be announced on February 6","type":"news"},{"body":"On January 30, 2019, lawyer Irina Krasnikova and Dennis Christensen himself spoke in the debate (the text of his speech was published). Christensen was then given the defendant's last word (also published). ","caseTitle":"Case of Christensen in Oryol","date":"2019-01-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/oryol/index.html#20190130","regions":["oryol"],"tags":["defense-arguments","final-statement"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On January 23, 2019, lawyer Anton Bogdanov, who defends Dennis Christensen in Orel, spoke in the debate.\n","date":"2019-01-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/587.html","regions":["oryol"],"tags":["defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"Speech by lawyer Anton Bogdanov defending Dennis Christensen","type":"docs"},{"body":"The hearing of arguments in court in the case of Danish believer Dennis Christensen will continue in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Oryol on Wednesday, January 30, 2019, at 10:30 a.m. After that, the court is likely to retire to the deliberation room for a few days.\nEarlier, speaking in the debate on January 23, 2019, the prosecutor requested from the court a real term for Dennis Christensen — 6 and a half years in prison just for his faith in Jehovah.\nAddress of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Orel: st. Maxim Gorky, 45-a.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-01-27T18:19:58+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/01/583/kristensen_web5841_2_hu_40ee7c9191d517cd.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/01/583/kristensen_web5841_2.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/01/583/kristensen_web5841_2_hu_4ce0c18443880e77.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/01/583/kristensen_web5841_2_hu_ab603dc7ddfedb4d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/01/583.html","regions":["oryol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments"],"title":"In Oryol, the date for the continuation of the debate has shifted to January 30, 2019","type":"news"},{"body":"The debate of the parties will begin on January 23, 2019 at 10:30. During the debate, representatives of the prosecution will state what punishment, in their opinion, should be imposed on the believer. Dennis Christensen will then have the final say and the court will retire to the deliberation room for sentencing.\nThe debate will be held in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Orel at the address: st. Maxim Gorky, 45-a.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-01-21T19:31:33+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/01/570/kristensen_web5841_1_hu_40ee7c9191d517cd.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/01/570/kristensen_web5841_1.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/01/570/kristensen_web5841_1_hu_4ce0c18443880e77.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/01/570/kristensen_web5841_1_hu_ab603dc7ddfedb4d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/01/570.html","regions":["oryol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments"],"title":"The date of the debate of the parties in the case of the Danish believer in Oryol has been clarified","type":"news"},{"body":"On January 21, 2019, the hearing in the case of Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen will continue at the Oryol Railway Court. Probably, on this day, the debate of the parties will begin, during which the representatives of the prosecution will declare what punishment, in their opinion, should be imposed on the believer. After the debate, the defendant will be given the last word and the court will retire to the deliberation room for sentencing.\nOn January 16, 2019, the court almost completed the judicial investigation of the case. Witnesses for the prosecution and defense were questioned, and the materials and evidence in the case were examined. The defendant presented his explanations to the court. The defense party filed petitions, the resolution of which was postponed until January 21, 2019. The parties confirmed to the court that they were ready to speak in the debate.\nThe charge against Dennis Christensen of \"organizing the activities of an extremist organization\" (Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is based on a court decision to liquidate and ban the activities of a local religious organization (LRO) of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Orel. The believer himself denies any connection with extremism and insists on his complete innocence.\nThe hearing will begin on January 21, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Oryol at 45-a Maxim Gorky Street.\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-01-17T23:28:37+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/01/565/kristensen_web5841_0_hu_40ee7c9191d517cd.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/01/565/kristensen_web5841_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/01/565/kristensen_web5841_0_hu_4ce0c18443880e77.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/01/565/kristensen_web5841_0_hu_ab603dc7ddfedb4d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/01/565.html","regions":["oryol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["defense-arguments"],"title":"The debate of the parties in the case of the Danish believer in Oryol may begin as early as January 21, 2019","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 21, 2018, the arguments of the parties in the case of 70-year-old Arkadi Hakobyan began in the Prokhladnensky District Court (Kabardino-Balkaria). He is charged under Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The prosecutor asked him for 3 years of suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 2 years.\nArkadia Hakobyan, a native of a small Armenian village in Azerbaijan, came to Kabardino-Balkaria with his wife and three children in 1988, fleeing ethnic violence caused by the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. He met Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia in the early 90s, amazed at the fact that this religious group was alien to the ideas of interethnic hostility and violence.\nLaw enforcement agencies had no complaints against Hakobyan until the security forces launched a campaign in Russia to harass Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis of far-fetched accusations.\nArkady Hakobyan was accused of distributing banned literature, as well as inciting hatred. The accusations are based on the testimony of six witnesses who said they attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses and heard Hakobyan speak disrespectfully about Muslims and Orthodox priests.\nThe court examined the evidence of the parties for a year and a half. During the hearings, facts indicating the fabrication of the case were voiced.\nOne of them is the billing of witnesses' mobile phones. He pointed out that during the religious meetings, the prosecution witnesses not only did not attend services on many of the days declared, but were not even in the city of Prokhladny. In addition, the billing revealed a close relationship between witnesses and law enforcement officers, which casts doubt on the impartiality of the testimony.\nThe witnesses themselves became confused in their testimonies and could not describe the details of where and how Hakobyan \"committed the crime.\" It turned out that on the day when, according to the case file, Arkady Hakobyan expressed \"hatred or enmity\" against representatives of other religions from the stage, he did not speak at all at a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nArkadya Hakobyan denies the accusations and claims that he never saw prosecution witnesses at religious meetings until the day law enforcement officers came to the Kingdom Hall and banned literature was planted in the building. That day he saw for the first time one of these prosecution witnesses, who tried to smuggle banned literature into the building. Most of the prosecution witnesses he saw only in court or during investigative actions.\nAfter Arkadya Hakobyan delivers his last speech, the judge of the Prokhladnensky District Court will leave for sentencing.\n","category":"trial","date":"2018-12-21T12:31:16+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2018/12/547/akopyan4501_0_0_0_hu_ebf358a1894dd600.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2018/12/547/akopyan4501_0_0_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2018/12/547/akopyan4501_0_0_0_hu_61e31a015a6e0439.webp","webp2x":"/news/2018/12/547/akopyan4501_0_0_0_hu_5b30c12b309343b9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2018/12/547.html","regions":["kabardino-balkar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["prosecutor-request","defense-arguments","elderly","fabrications","plant","suspended"],"title":"The prosecutor's office in the city of Prokhladny demanded a 3-year suspended sentence for the believer","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 20, 2017, at 14:00, the hearing continues. The process has entered its final stage, the debate of the parties is expected. A report from the courtroom is underway.\n","category":"org","date":"2017-04-20T11:57:04+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/04/148/img_1893-1_hu_b535638ef86efd51.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/04/148/img_1893-1.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/04/148/img_1893-1_hu_fec8a7d53f51dc39.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/04/148/img_1893-1_hu_2509f7f01b0adf3d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/04/148.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["supreme-court","mro","administrative-center","liquidation","defense-arguments","courtroom"],"title":"The sixth day of hearings in the Supreme Court of Russia on the claim of the Ministry of Justice to ban Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"On January 16, 2017, the Moscow City Court heard arguments from representatives of the \"Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia\" about the groundlessness of the warning about the inadmissibility of extremist activities issued against them by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia. The appeal was dismissed.\nAn audio recording of the explanations and speeches in the debate of two representatives of the \"Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia\" is published.\n","category":"org","date":"2017-01-25T16:32:31+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/01/88/moscow_city_court-02199_hu_c84987d2a270601d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/01/88/moscow_city_court-02199.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/01/88/moscow_city_court-02199_hu_71984723f18a8aea.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/01/88/moscow_city_court-02199_hu_2903c51553d254ab.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/01/88.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","courtroom","liquidation","defense-arguments"],"title":"Speeches in the Moscow City Court by representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses Center","type":"news"}]