[{"body":"On July 8, 2026, Judge Ruslan Teplukhin of the Vyselkovskiy District Court handed down yet another guilty verdict in the case of one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. For participating in meetings for worship, Sergey Nazarov, 51, received a 2-year suspended sentence.\nThe believer has a large family — the couple raised four children. Their eldest has a severe disability and is dependent on his parents. The young man\u0026#39;s condition sharply worsened after a search of the home in 2022 — he spent 3 months in the hospital. During the investigation, Sergey was under a recognizance agreement, which also made it difficult for him to care for his son, as visits to the doctor required travel to a neighboring district.\nSergey has spent almost his entire life in Vyselki. He worked in construction. After the start of criminal prosecution, he encountered difficulties finding work. He was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list. Sergey said that during this difficult period, relatives and friends gave him support. \u0026quot;They listened to me, gave advice, for which I am very grateful,\u0026quot; the believer noted. \u0026quot;Many came from other villages and cities, made sacrifices, and tried to help both with words and deeds. That is very valuable.\u0026quot;\nCourt proceedings began in September 2025. Nazarov did not admit guilt in extremism. \u0026quot;There are no victims in this case. I am being prosecuted for my faith. I follow Jesus Christ\u0026#39;s example in living peaceably with others and not rebelling against those in authority,\u0026quot; he said.\nAll cases against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Vyselki, including Sergey Nazarov\u0026#39;s, follow a single pattern: they are based on video recordings of meetings for worship, testimony from a secret witness under the pseudonym Pastor, and the religious expert conclusion of Pavel Boyko. In the village, which has a population of only about 20,000, 19 believers are under criminal prosecution, 16 of whom have already been convicted.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2026-07-10T15:44:35+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/07/101544/image_hu_a67195bbbc42b095.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/07/101544/image_hu_bf574b37a5947985.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/07/101544/image_hu_6f95d38de02d6183.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/07/101544/image_hu_998c43d86377538e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/07/101544.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":"The Number of Convicted Jehovah's Witnesses in the Village Has Reached 16","tags":["sentence","282.2-1","suspended","secret-witness"],"title":"Father of Four from Vyselki Given Suspended Sentence for His Faith.","type":"news"},{"body":"About 40–45 people attend the court hearing. Darya Petrochenko’s lawyer files a motion to return the case to the prosecutor’s office due to gross violations. For example, after the defendants reviewed volume 16 of the case (216 pages) and signed for it, some materials were excluded from the volume and more than 100 new pages were added — the volume increased to 385 pages. The defense also points to confusion regarding the surname of the key witness.\nJudge D. Merzlyakov denies the motion to return the case to the prosecutor’s office.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Murtuzov and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-05-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow6/index.html#20260525","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["first-instance","fabrications","case-to-prosecutor","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness for the prosecution under the pseudonym Sergeev I. V. The man says that he does not have any hostility towards the defendants and knows everyone except Aleksandr Kopylets. According to Sergeev, he attended meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses between 2016 and 2020; there was a favorable atmosphere, \"the Scriptures were examined, hymns were heard.\" He does not remember much of what was discussed there, but notes that it was said about the importance of good relations in the family. He did not hear any extremist calls.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Voronchikhin and Others in Simferopol","date":"2026-04-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/simferopol/index.html#20260409","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense objects to the reading out of the testimony of witness Grigorieva, pointing out that in the court session she was declared under a different name - \"Gromykina\".\nDuring the interrogation, Daria asks the witness whether the date of issue of the passport in the name of \"Grigorieva\" is true. The witness confirms the specified date. This episode is of significant importance, since the passport was issued long before the witness's meeting with Daria, which may indicate a possible preliminary preparation of the witness for provocative actions.\nThe judge summons investigator Y. Shumilova to find out who was interrogated during the preliminary investigation - Gromykin or Grigoriev. The investigator explains that the prosecution witness Gromykina was introduced to her by an FSB officer as Grigorieva and presented a passport in this name.\nDaria Petrochenko asks the prosecution witness: what seemed illegal to her in their correspondence and prompted her to contact the FSB? Grigorieva replies that the reason was the name Jehovah. Daria asks if this name is banned. The witness cannot answer.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Murtuzov and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-03-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow6/index.html#20260326","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"At the hearing, which is being held behind closed doors, religious scholar Mirra Kashaeva is being interrogated. She considers religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses prohibited. According to the expert, phrases such as \"thank you\" or \"please answer\" indicate the leadership of the meeting.\nA secret witness Panchenko is also being interrogated. From his testimony it follows that the worship meetings were held via videoconference, their participants read and discussed the Bible.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Barsukov and Yeliseyev in Slavgorod","date":"2026-02-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/slavgorod/index.html#20260213","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\u0026quot;They imprison less, but more severely\u0026quot; — that was the headline of a similar review a year ago, when statistics gave hope that the repression against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia if not subsiding, was at least losing intensity. A year later, it is clear that this is not the case. In 2025, the number of raids, new criminal defendants, and incidents of unprovoked violence against believers has increased. In more than 8 years of persecution, the total prison terms handed down have exceeded 1,000 years. This article looks at the human stories which are masked by the dry reports of \u0026quot;crusaders against extremism\u0026quot; — extremism that has never been proven — and at what Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia have faced during the past year.\nMillennium of Incarceration Aleksey Lelikov has devoted nearly his entire life to music. For many years, he taught piano and, in 1994, even reached the finals of the \u0026quot;Teacher of the Year\u0026quot; competition in Krasnodar. Around the same time, Aleksey became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. He had never had any trouble with the law. Yet in February 2025, on indiscriminate charges of extremism, a court sentenced the disabled 64-year-old believer to 6.5 years imprisonment.\nAleksey is just one among 906 individuals whose lives have been irrevocably changed by prosecution for their faith. During 8.5 years of persecution, more than 500 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — men and women — have served time behind bars, and 179 remain imprisoned to this day. Verdicts have been issued against 665 believers. Of these, 215 people (32%) received prison sentences — 146 of them (68%) were sentenced to 5 years or more. The combined length of prison terms totals 1,128 years.\nIn 2025, 107 searches (5 more than the previous year) were conducted, bringing the total to 2,268 — on average 1 search every 30 hours. The number of new defendants also rose compared to 2024: 61 as opposed to 53. During the past year, 125 believers were convicted. Of these 38 were sentenced to prison, with the overwhelming majority — 30 (nearly 80%) — receiving more than 5 years. The harshest sentence that year — 7 years in a penal colony — was handed down to four believers: Yevgeniy Sokolov from Voronezh, Samvel Babayan from Samara, Ivan Neverov from Saransk, and Igor Lonchakov from Vladivostok. Yevgeniy and Samvel suffer from serious illnesses and Igor is disabled.\nSuspended sentences were given to 49 people (39%), and 37 were fined amounts ranging from 250,000 to 650,000 rubles.\nLast year 16 believers completed their prison terms and were released. Among them was Aleksandr Seredkin, 71. He was freed only after it was discovered he has advanced cancer. \u0026quot;I\u0026#39;m still young,\u0026quot; he joked, adding: \u0026quot;I want to recover and finish the Christian race to the end.\u0026quot;\nTorture, Violence, and Real Victims Search and arrest. Illustrative photo. In 2025, there were at least eight cases of unprovoked violence and cruel treatment against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — including incidents that meet the definition of torture under the UN Convention.\nDuring more than 8 years of persecution, already over 70 believers have suffered such abuse. None of these crimes have been properly investigated, and none of the perpetrators have faced the punishment prescribed by law.\nDuring the year, three elderly believers who were criminally prosecuted passed away: Liliya Dolinina, Lyudmila Shut, and Valeriy Baylo. Valeriy died in the actual detention center, never having received the medical care he needed. In total, the number of deaths in connection wtih the criminal prosecution has reached 16.\n\u0026quot;I Wish You Many Happy Years in Your Loving Family Home...\u0026quot; Disabled Anatoliy Yevtushenko says goodbye to his family after being sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony. Krasnodar, December 2025. At least 81 prosecuted individuals have documented serious health conditions, 34 are officially disabled. Today, 36 seriously ill believers are held in penal colonies and pretrial detention centers, where access to proper medical care is often impossible.\nThe disability of Boris Andreyev, 74, was recognized when he was already in the penal colony. The court sentenced him to 6 years, fully aware of his serious illness — already during the preliminary investigation a precancerous condition requiring regular medical monitoring was identified. Boris was unable to obtain a full medical examination for more than a year in detention and his condition worsened. Only in 2025 did a medical commission confirm the diagnosis — cancer. Boris underwent a course of treatment.\nCongratulatory Certificate from the Mayor of Moscow to the Marunov family on their anniversary Anatoliy Marunov, 72, is serving a 6.5-year sentence in a penal colony. Even before his imprisonment, he had suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with heart failure, hypertension, and a prostate tumor. When his wife visited him in the penal colony in the Tambov Region and saw his condition, she was alarmed. \u0026quot;I was terrified,\u0026quot; Alfia said. \u0026quot;He was covered in tubes, catheters, bags... It\u0026#39;s no longer a person, but a living corpse...\u0026quot; In January 2025, Anatoliy needed surgery, but it could not be performed in that region. The court refused to reduce his sentence despite doctors\u0026#39; conclusions that his life was at risk. In October, he was hospitalized, and in December, a medical commission confirmed his disability. Meanwhile, the court of cassation upheld the verdict, refusing to attach documents about his condition to the case. Today, Anatoliy receives only limited medical care. In bitter irony, Moscow City Hall recently sent the separated Marunov family a congratulatory letter on their 50th wedding anniversary. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin praised the elderly couple as an example for young people and wished them \u0026quot;many happy years in their loving family home.\u0026quot;\nAlmost one-third of those prosecuted for their faith (266 people) are over 60. The same proportion applies to new defendants in 2025 (19 out of 60). Currently, 37 elderly believers remain behind bars. Samvel Babayan, 53, from Samara was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. At the time of his arrest, he was preparing for major surgery, but treatment was canceled. Soon after, his chronical illnesses of his internal organs, including a tumor, worsened. He suffers constant spinal pain, has lost 15 kilograms and hearing in one ear. For more than a year, Samvel remained in pretrial detention without proper medical care. He now awaits transfer to a penal colony, where adequate treatment is impossible. Severe pain plagued him even during court hearings. The defense requested fewer sessions, but the court refused. At one hearing, Samvel lost consciousness and an ambulance was called — yet the trial was not postponed.\nSecret \u0026quot;Pastor\u0026quot; Across the country, law enforcement agencies spy on believers, including using agents who feign an interest in the Bible. For months — sometimes years — they secretly record conversations and later testify in court as anonymous witnesses.\nAt least 30 criminal cases have been built on false testimony from such informants. One agent, Yekaterina Petrova, spied on a group of 17 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, including elderly people. Her testimony led to prison sentences of up to 8 years. Another example: nearly all criminal cases in the village of Vyselki, Krasnodar Territory, were fabricated through the efforts of an agent known in court under the pseudonym \u0026quot;Pastor\u0026quot;.\nThe cases of Viktor Spirichev (left) and Sergey Dvurechenskiy (right) are based on testimony from \u0026quot;Pastor.\u0026quot; Both were sentenced on the same day: 2 years suspended. Vyselki, December 2025. All that the testimony of these spies managed to prove was that the believers discussed the Bible and prayed to Jehovah. During hearings, often the agents end up giving testimony in favor of the defense during hearings. \u0026quot;I, for example, never heard the defendant say that other religions are bad,\u0026quot; Pastor admitted at Spirichev\u0026#39;s trial, where Viktor was later given a suspended sentence. Sergey Dvurechenskiy said about this witness: \u0026quot;He\u0026#39;s doing this for some reason — resentment or something else. That\u0026#39;s his business. It's not for me to judge... There\u0026#39;s still some hope that he\u0026#39;ll come to his senses.\u0026quot;\n\u0026quot;The KGB used exactly the same tactics during the Soviet-era ban on Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. It\u0026#39;s all in the archives and repeatedly documented by historians,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. \u0026quot;What did these spies uncover? The same as now: Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are not enemies of society or the state. In 1991, a law was passed to rehabilitate victims of repression, and in 1996, a presidential decree explicitly instructed the Prosecutor General\u0026#39;s Office, FSB, and Interior Ministry to ensure rehabilitation of citizens harmed by terror. Today\u0026#39;s authorities cannot claim ignorance of this.\u0026quot;\nGold Mine Yevgeniy and Tatyana Dodolin. They have been in pretrial detention since spring 2025. \u0026quot;It seems that for law enforcement agnecies, the tactic of targeting entire families has become a gold mine: why go after real criminals? That\u0026#39;s dangerous. It\u0026#39;s much easier to go after the relatives of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who are already under investigation. Most believers have strong family ties, so chances are — husband, wife, son, daughter — they also read and discuss the Bible. It really looks like that\u0026#39;s exactly what investigators are doing,\u0026quot; commented one lawyer who has helped defend the rights of believers in numerous criminal cases.\nIn 2025, criminal cases were initiated against four married couples: Nikolay and Larisa Kosov from Cherkessk (under travel restrictions), as well as Tomsk residents Yevgeniy and Tatyana Dodolin, Yevgeniy and Yana Abramov, Aysulu Tastaybekova and Vladimir Pushkov (all currently in pretrial detention). The numbers of believers prosecuted after their family members grew to include Yelena Shestopalova (mother of Vladlena Kukavitsa) and Mariya Pankova (wife of Sergey Tolokonnikov).\nAt least 172 Jehovah's Witnesses who have been prosecuted have one or more relatives who faced similar circumstances. Moscow resident Sergey Tolokonnikov hugs his wife after his release. The court found her guilty for her faith 5 months later. June 2025. \u0026quot;I was getting ready to attend the trial of my daughter Vladlena,\u0026quot; Yelena Shestopalova recalled the events in October. \u0026quot;An early ring at the door surprised me: \u0026#39;Could it really be a search on the very day of the trial?\u0026#39; I had already gone through one search. I understood they could come again and initiate a case — it was only a matter of time.\u0026quot; She added: \u0026quot;My life has changed a lot, but I never lost my joy and always believed that Jehovah would not abandon me during my troubles.\u0026quot;\nCases in an Endless Cycle Trials against many Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have become an endless cycle: cases are sent back to the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office, then the trial starts over; appeals overturn decisions, judges recuse themselves, the wait for a verdict drags on for years. This has happened in at least 33 criminal cases.\nAnother extreme: after securing a conviction, law enforcement agencies initiate yet another criminal case against the same believer. Some become defendants again while serving suspended sentences (such as Aleksandr Serebryakov or Oleg Postnikov). Others face new charges while already in a penal colony.\nDmitriy Terebilov at one of the hearings. January 2022. A telling example is Dmitriy Terebilov: he was prosecuted for answering a cellmate\u0026#39;s questions about faith. In addition to the 3 years he had already served in a penal colony, the prosecutor requested another 10. \u0026quot;What\u0026#39;s criminal about sharing your thoughts about God, discussing a passage from the Bible, or some scientific or historical fact?\u0026quot; he expressed his bewilderment during one of the hearings.\nCurrently, the maximum prison term handed down to one of Jehovah's Witnesses is 8 years — there are six such prisoners of conscience today. In reality, unjust punishment doesn\u0026#39;t end even after release from a penal colony — believers continue to face additional restrictions. As a result, the actual duration of repression can exceed 20 years. For example, the prosecution of Dmitriy Barmakin began in July 2018. After lengthy investigations and numerous court hearings, he was sent to a penal colony, from which he should be released in November 2029. After that, he will be under restriction of freedom for another year, followed by 10 years of administrative oversight. In total, if nothing changes, the persecution of Dmitriy and his family will stretch to 22 years.\nLife on Hold Losing their freedom is not the only hardship faced by Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who are being persecuted. The state employs numerous methods to infringe upon their rights. For example, before a verdict is reached, defendants are almost always subjected to some form of preventive measure: they are often forbidden to leave their homes (even briefly) without official permission, to use communication devices, and sometimes even to speak with family members.\nRead more about repressive measures in criminal prosecution in the article: What Restrictions Are Faced by Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia? Suspended sentences are the most common form of punishment for Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — since 2017, 331 believers have been given such sentences. This type of verdict always includes a probation period ranging from 6 months to 5 years, during which the individual must \u0026quot;prove his correction\u0026quot; by exemplary behavior. If law enforcement agencies deem that the believer has committed any serious violations, the court can easily replace the suspended sentence with actual imprisonment.\nAleksey and Yuliya Pasynkov Such restrictions inevitably affect the families of those being prosecuted. Aleksey and Yuliya Pasynkov were both given suspended sentences in 2025. They are raising a son with a severe disability. \u0026quot;Even before the prosecution began, we had planned trips to doctors in Moscow and St. Petersburg — all of this has now been delayed for several years. Now we are limited as to how we can move forward with his treatment,\u0026quot; Aleksey said before his wife\u0026#39;s verdict was announced.\nBoth parents have been added to the so-called list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring. At various times, this list has included the names of 741 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, and 570 remain on it today. For those on the list, even simple everyday tasks become significantly harder. People in poor health and the elderly are especially vulnerable — they may face difficulties paying for medical services or receiving social assistance.\n\u0026quot;To collect my salary, I have to go to the bank twice a month. Sometimes I have to endure humiliation, explaining to the staff that I\u0026#39;m not an extremist,\u0026quot; explained Maksim Beltikov, a father of three. He served 2 years in a penal colony but still feels the consequences of the unjust prosecution.\n\u0026quot;They Will Deport Him — What About His Family?\u0026quot; A new trend that has been gaining momentum over the past year is revoking the citizenship of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses under prosecution. The procedure is simple: if a convicted believer\u0026#39;s citizenship had been acquired, it is simply annulled shortly after the verdict takes effect. At least 12 people have faced this situation.\nWhat does this mean in practice for believers and their families? Some again risk religious discrimination now in their country of birth; others face indefinite separation from loved ones; some may even become stateless due to bureaucratic hurdles.\nRustam Diarov is one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses whose citizenship was revoked. Upon his release he faces deportation, to where — still unknown. Rustam\u0026#39;s wife and elderly mother are Russian citizens. His wife is disabled and depends on state-provided medication.\nMikhail Moysh with his wife and oldest son. A similar decision was made regarding Mikhail Moysh\u0026#39;s citizenship. He has been in custody since October 2021. Mikhail has two children; the younger was only a few months old when he was arrested. Since then, he has barely seen his sons. A deportation order could prolong this separation even further. Here\u0026#39;s how Moysh\u0026#39;s lawyer described the social dilemma:\n\u0026quot;One of his children was born here in Russia. And now, they will deport Moysh... What about his family? Do they have to leave too? And to where, if one child has almost finished school here and the other is still very young and an RF citizen by birth...\u0026quot;\n\u0026quot;These are just a few examples of the human drama hidden behind dry numbers,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \u0026quot;History and today\u0026#39;s persecution prove only one thing: Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are being targeted without cause. But repression has not crushed their faith. So, we can be sure that, as the Bible says, \u0026#39;it will turn out well for those who fear the true God.\u0026#39;\u0026quot;\nNikolay Saparov, who was tortured during his arrest in spring 2022, has been behind bars for nearly 4 years. March 2025. Anatoliy Yevtushenko watches his friends and family as bailiffs lead him away in handcuffs from the courtroom. December 2025. Oksana Chausova, with tears of joy, shared her first moments of freedom with friends. September 2025. Dance of a free man. Artur Putintsev. April 2025. ","category":"analytics","date":"2026-01-08T08:21:40+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_4bf0f98c2051e909.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_99493c21d2de81cf.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_fd04654bdfaa2c3d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_21372a74e581e94e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/01/071621.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["review","search","torture","elderly","disability","prison-treatment","life-in-prison","minors","families","secret-witness","strict-conditions","health-risk","died"],"title":"A Thousand Years for Their Faith: Repression Against Jehovah’s Witnesses — 2025 Review","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Zakhar is interrogated. He says that he attended meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses until 2016. According to him, he does not know the defendant personally, he saw Suslov via video conference call once in 2020-2021 during a meetings for worship at which he prayed.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Suslov in Shadrinsk","date":"2025-12-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk3/index.html#20251215","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret prosecution witness under the pseudonym Lebedev A.M., who has been serving in one of the churches in Naberezhnye Chelny for more than ten years. He repeats almost verbatim the same accusations as the previous participants in the trial. Lebedev claims that Jehovah's Witnesses are dangerous to society, but cannot substantiate this point of view.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ishberdin and Starikov in Naberezhnye Chelny","date":"2025-12-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/naberezhnye-chelny3/index.html#20251210","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Sergey Dvurechenskiy, 50, has been given a 2-year suspended sentence. This decision was announced on December 9, 2025, by Judge Yelizaveta Proskuryakova of the Vyselkovskiy District Court. This is already the fifth verdict she has issued in a case involving Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nSergey, who was born in Vyselki, has worked in construction for more than 20 years. At one of the court hearings, character references written by his employer and a neighbor were read aloud. According to Sergey\u0026#39;s recollection, after the hearing the prosecutor called them \u0026quot;the description of an ideal person.\u0026quot; Regarding the participants in the process the believer said: \u0026quot;It is one thing that they carry out their duties, but as people I see their wonderful traits\u0026quot;.\nIn Vyselki, similar cases have been initiated against 14 more believers. Most of the charges are based on the testimony of a secret witness under the pseudonym \u0026quot;Pastyr,\u0026quot; [Shepherd] who secretly recorded meetings for worship on video. \u0026quot;He never ever showed up at the hearing,\u0026quot; Sergey said. \u0026quot;He\u0026#39;s doing what he does for some reason — it\u0026#39;s not for me to judge. But you know, I don't feel any anger or resentment toward him.\u0026quot;\nThe court spent more than a year reviewing the recordings of meetings for worship. \u0026quot;I think it was good for both the judge and the prosecutor to listen to them,\u0026quot; Dvurechenskiy thinks. \u0026quot;There were great points about family life and relationships. There\u0026#39;s definitely nothing extremist in them.\u0026quot;\nThe criminal prosecution of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Vyselki has been ongoing since February 2022, when mass searches took place, which also affected Dvurechenskiy. Most cases against local believers have already resulted in guilty verdicts.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-12-09T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/12/101349/image_hu_c6c2cec82593f396.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/12/101349/image_hu_7b0a03cb4e5e73d.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/12/101349/image_hu_fb6be59651178272.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/12/101349/image_hu_38b2b524bbdd8814.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/12/101349.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","282.2-2","secret-witness"],"title":"Another One of Jehovah's Witnesses from Vyselki Given Suspended Sentence","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Pak is being questioned. He says that he has not attended meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses for a long time. According to him, no one was forced to participate in meetings or join any organization.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Chernov in Tavrichanka","date":"2025-10-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tavrichanka2/index.html#20251022","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Over the course of five sessions, the court reviews recordings of conversations between Jehovah's Witnesses and persons who portrayed interest in the Bible. At the same time, the defendants themselves did not participate in such conversations.\nThe defense repeatedly draws attention to the fact that the recordings do not contain anything that falls under the definition of extremism, and the prosecutor gives not a legal, but a religious assessment of the content of the conversations, expressing his personal opinion about what should be believed. The defense files a motion asking the court to ban discussion of the defendants' religious beliefs.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Neverov and Others in Saransk","date":"2025-04-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/saransk2/index.html#20250402","regions":["mordovia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense petitions for the declassification of the identity of witness Lozhkin and his interrogation in the courtroom in the general order. The prosecutor objects, the judge refuses.\nThe court is remotely interrogating Lozhkin, who attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses until 2019. He is confused in his testimony and asks to postpone the hearing due to a sharp deterioration in health. An ambulance is called for him. The meeting was postponed.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Knyazev and Talipov in Izhevsk","date":"2025-03-31T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk3/index.html#20250331","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["interrogation","first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense is petitioning for the declassification of the secret witness \"Vasily Alekseev\", who died by the time the case was considered in court. The lawyer refers to the fact that after the death of a witness, there is no need to keep his identity classified. The prosecution disagrees. The court refuses to satisfy the petition.\nThe defense also asks to recognize the use of the testimony of a deceased witness in court as inadmissible, since this violates the defendants' right to a fair trial, since there is no opportunity to interrogate the witness. The court will decide on this petition later.\nEarlier, one of the prosecution witnesses stated that he saw Neverov at a certain time and in a certain place in Saransk. The defense requested a number of documents confirming that Neverov was in another city at that time. The court agrees.\nThe study of the case materials begins.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Neverov and Others in Saransk","date":"2025-03-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/saransk2/index.html#20250306","regions":["mordovia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A prosecution witness under the pseudonym Fedorov is interrogated. The defense petitions for the disclosure of the identity of the witness, pointing to the absence of a real threat and the need for visual observation for a full-fledged interrogation. The court rejects the petition.\nFedorov says that he knows Jehovah's Witnesses from Krasnoyarsk and knows about believers from Lesosibirsk by hearsay. He does not know Andrey Shiyan and Anna Matveeva. According to the witness, he did not receive any threats from the believers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shiyan and Matveeva in Lesosibirsk","date":"2025-03-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesosibirsk3/index.html#20250304","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of the secret witness Andreev. The defense and the defendants file a motion to declassify it and ask for interrogation in the courtroom. According to Ivan Neverov, this is necessary, since during the trial it was obvious that the secret witnesses had repeatedly testified according to the instructions received.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Neverov and Others in Saransk","date":"2025-03-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/saransk2/index.html#20250303","regions":["mordovia"],"tags":["secret-witness","first-instance","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of the secret witness Semyonova. The defense files a motion to declassify it.\nThe defense lawyer, addressing the court, says: \"This is not the first time I have participated in this kind of cases and I draw attention to the fact that this is really the most harmless confession that exists. Nevertheless, the defendants are being charged under the most serious article.\"\nThe court denies the motion.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Neverov and Others in Saransk","date":"2025-02-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/saransk2/index.html#20250220","regions":["mordovia"],"tags":["secret-witness","first-instance","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a classified prosecution witness. The lawyer reads out a motion to disclose the identity of the witness, since there were no threats or illegal actions on the part of the accused, and they are characterized as exemplary and peace-loving people. The judge asks for the opinion of the prosecutor, who is categorically against the disclosure of the identity of the witness and visual interrogation. The witness is interrogated by the judge in another room. The defence is not allowed to speak to him, and the lawyer passes his questions through the judge, who has to go from the courtroom to another room and back again to get answers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shiyan and Matveeva in Lesosibirsk","date":"2025-02-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesosibirsk3/index.html#20250218","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness is interrogated, whom the judge refuses to declassify. He says that he has been invited to the court \"to give a truthful assessment of the testimony on biblical points.\" As it turns out, the witness attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The man speaks negatively about this religion in general and cites a number of facts that do not correspond to reality. For example, he claims that believers do not drink wine, do not marry for love, do not go to the theater, and forbid children to read the works of Ivan Turgenev.\nAt the same time, answering questions from the defense, the witness admits that he did not hear any statements at the services of Jehovah's Witnesses inciting religious discord or promoting the superiority or inferiority of citizens on the basis of attitude to religion.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Reshetnikov and Others in Gryazi","date":"2024-11-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gryazi/index.html#20241128","regions":["lipetsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret witness under the pseudonym \"Pastor\" who attended meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses from the 1990s to the 2010s. To one of the questions, he answers: \"For him [the defendant] to say that other religions are bad, I, for example, did not hear these phrases from him.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Spirichev in Vyselki","date":"2024-11-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki4/index.html#20241101","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret prosecution witness under the pseudonym Pastor, whose testimony appears in the cases of several other Jehovah's Witnesses from the village of Vyselki, is being interrogated. He does not know the defendant Penskaya personally and cannot confirm the fact of her presence at meetings for worship.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Penskaya in Vyselki","date":"2024-10-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki5/index.html#20241028","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness, Anatoly Zaostrovsky, is being interrogated under the pseudonym Aleksandr Anisimov. During the interrogation, it turns out that the witness does not see the difference between the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and a legal entity that was liquidated in 2017. In his opinion, being an adherent of the creed and being part of a legal entity are the same thing. The witness admits that he is not aware that the Supreme Court did not consider the legality of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses.\n\"Anisimov\" speaks positively of Klokov, although he claims that he does not know him personally, only seeing him at services that he has attended since 2015. The witness says that he does not see any threat to himself from Klokov, but refuses to answer the lawyer's question about the reasons for the secrecy.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klokov in Barnaul","date":"2024-10-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/barnaul4/index.html#20241016","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret witness under the pseudonym Pastor. The defense draws attention to the fact that the witness personally attended the meetings for worship mentioned in the case file, his name is mentioned in the transcript, and his face can be seen on the videos. The defense filed a petition to declassify the identity of the Pastor, but the court refused.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gadrshina in Vyselki","date":"2024-10-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki8/index.html#20241010","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret witness under the pseudonym Pastor. The court rejects the defense's request for an ordinary interrogation.\nThe secret witness says that he voluntarily studied the Bible in the early 1990s and attended meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to him, he met the defendants in the worship building during a Christian meeting.\nWhen asked by the lawyer whether he received threats of murder, violence or destruction of property from the defendants and their fellow believers, the secret witness answers in the negative. During the interrogation, he shows that he has a personal animosity towards Jehovah's Witnesses.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2024-09-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20240930","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness does not appear for questioning. The lawyer asks to forcibly bring him to court, since the defense knows where he is. The judge denies because, in his opinion, it could declassify the witness.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2024-09-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20240918","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"An operative of the FSB A. I. Isaev is being interrogated. He briefly recounts the information contained in the materials of operational-investigative activities.\nThe defense is trying to file a motion due to the fact that such an interrogation of an operational officer cannot be considered as real evidence. The Court ignores this request.\nWhen answering questions from the defense, Isaev notes that he has not heard from Jehovah's Witnesses and specifically from the defendants calls for violence, disrespect for state authorities, the severance of family ties and refusal of medical treatment.\nHe also acknowledges that the Supreme Court did not assess the legality of Jehovah's Witnesses' religious beliefs. At the same time, he refers to a certain plenum, at which, according to him, the activities of believers \"were considered prohibited and extremist.\"\nThe interrogation of witnesses for the prosecution continues. Two women who cannot provide any specific information on the circumstances of the criminal case are taking the floor.\nThen two secret witnesses under the pseudonyms Kuznetsov and Smirnova speak via video link. Witness Kuznetsov says that he cannot say anything for sure and that his testimony is only speculation.\nSmirnova used to attend services of Jehovah's Witnesses. She can only say who the elders are from the words of other believers whose names she does not remember.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kozhushko and Others in Lesnoy","date":"2024-09-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesnoy/index.html#20240912","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A classified witness is being interrogated. He says that Manuilov is one of Jehovah's Witnesses, talks in detail about the religious structure of this community in Barnaul and gives the names of some believers. When asked by his lawyer how he knows all this information, he replies that he found it on the Internet.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Manuylov in Barnaul","date":"2024-09-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/barnaul5/index.html#20240904","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The study of the transcripts of meetings for worship continues. The lawyer points out that the secret witness under the pseudonym Pastor appears in the transcripts for 2021, however, according to the documents, such a pseudonym was assigned to him only in 2022. The defense considers this a sign of falsification of transcripts.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2024-08-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20240822","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor reads out the indictment. The lawyer files a motion to dismiss the criminal case.\nA witness who attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses until 2017 is being questioned. The lawyer draws attention to the fact that the testimony of the witness does not relate to the period of the defendant in question.\nThe prosecutor reads out the 5th volume of the case file, reads the testimony of the interrogated witness, and also reads out the testimony of the classified witness.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kabanov in Zelenogorsk","date":"2024-05-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zelenogorsk/index.html#20240529","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of the second secret witness under the pseudonym Fedorov. His interrogation is also conducted by the judge in person in another room.\nFrom Fedorov's answers, read out by the judge, it becomes clear that he once attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nHe informs the court that he does not know Valery Shitz and has never attended a Jehovah's Witnesses service in Lesosibirsk.\nAccording to the defense, the testimony of the secret witness was made \"as a carbon copy\" with the testimony of secret witnesses in similar cases of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The defense also claims a violation of the right to interrogate a witness, which contradicts the principle of adversarial parties.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Schitz in Lesosibirsk","date":"2024-05-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesosibirsk/index.html#20240516","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret witness under the pseudonym Ivanov. The judge, having taken a list of questions from each of the parties to the proceedings, retires with the secretary to the next room, where he interrogates the witness independently. The judge then reads out his answers. According to them, it becomes clear that the secret witness had previously attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Schitz in Lesosibirsk","date":"2024-05-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesosibirsk/index.html#20240515","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On May 13, 2024, Marina Khokhryakova, judge of the Pervomayskiy District Court of Izhevsk, found Maksim Derendyaev, Aleksandr Kutin and Sergey Ashikhmin guilty of extremism and sentenced each to 3 years imprisonment in a penal colony (the prosecutor had requested 7 years each). The believers were taken into custody in the courtroom. They intend to appeal the verdict.\nAs an additional punishment, the court banned each of them from carrying out any activity in public and religious associations for 4 years, and further restricted their freedom for 1 year.\nThe investigation considered the conversations about God and the Bible to be organizing the activity of an extremist organization, and in the spring of 2021, a criminal case was initiated against Derendyaev, Kutin and Ashikhmin. Mass searches took place in Izhevsk. As a result, Maksim Derendyaev and Aleksandr Kutin ended up in a pre-trial detention center, where one stayed for 3 months, and the other for 15 days. Sergey Ashikhmin was released under a ban on certain actions, taking into account the serious surgery he had undergone.\nAfter 2 years of trial, Maksim Derendyaev, 38, said: \u0026quot;I have not been able to understand which of my actions the prosecution considers a crime. For 4 years, I was secretly taped. This is about 1,000 hours of conversations in a relaxed atmosphere with family members and fellow believers, including everyday topics, and not a single extremist statement!\u0026quot;\nFriends help the families of the believers cope with the hardships caused by the unjust criminal prosecution: they support them financially and give them cards and letters with words of love and encouragement. Aleksandr Kutin, 41, said: \u0026quot;When letters from different countries and regions began to arrive, it made a strong impression on one of my neighbors — this is a real brotherhood, and when you get into trouble, they will not abandon you, but they will support and help you.\u0026quot; In court, Kutin stated: \u0026quot;The criminal case was initiated and brought to trial with the sole purpose of prohibiting me from practicing my religion, which is not prohibited by law, and from living as is written in the Bible. The investigation is trying to make us out as criminals who broke the law. But we didn\u0026#39;t break the law of the land.\u0026quot;\nSergey Ashikhmin, 50, emphasized in his final statement: \u0026quot;There have never been any extremist motives in my actions, because love and extremism are incompatible!\u0026quot;\nIn Udmurtia, criminal cases were initiated against 7 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses for their faith.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-05-13T14:36:34+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/05/131436/image_hu_45f97e5adf86f336.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/05/131436/image_hu_dc8e7d264f0a77b7.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/05/131436/image_hu_3e8e082b27037e0e.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/05/131436/image_hu_a3d3f2f017954a2e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/05/131436.html","regions":["udmurtia"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","secret-witness","282.2-1","liberty-deprivation"],"title":"Three Jehovah's Witnesses from Izhevsk Each Received Three Years in a Penal Colony for Their Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 2, 2024, Ruslan Atakuyev, judge of the Mayskiy District Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, acquitted Kirill Gushchin, 42, finding him not guilty of extremism. The prosecutor had requested 7 years in a penal colony for the believer.\n\u0026quot;I am not guilty,\u0026quot; Gushchin said in his final statement. \u0026quot;I'm just making use of the freedom that Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation gives . . . Imagine that in Russia the football federations FIFA and UEFA [which are legal entities—Ed.] were declared extremist and banned. Will people stop playing football in Russia? Or will a group of people gathered to play football – adults, children, men, women – also be extremists?\u0026quot;\nThe prosecution of Kirill Gushchin began in May 2020, when the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against him for organizing the activity of an extremist organization. Masked security forces with machine guns detained the believer as he was about to go to work. Among them was FSB officer Sergey Svetikov, who has repeatedly been caught falsifying operational materials. During the search, planted publications, which are on the list of extremist literature, were also found in Gushchin\u0026#39;s home.\nIn April 2021, Kirill was also charged with involving others in the activity of an extremist organization. A new criminal case against Kirill\u0026#39;s wife, Svetlana Gushchina, was separated from this case. The charges against both are based on the testimony of secret witness \u0026quot;Filatova\u0026quot;, who covertly made audio recordings of peaceful meetings for worship, at which nothing extremist happened.\nThis is not the first acquittal of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses accused of extremism from Kabardino-Balkaria. Earlier, the court of cassation acquitted Yuriy Zalipayev from Mayskiy, and the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria overturned the conviction of Arkadya Akopyan from Prokhladniy, terminating the proceedings in his case.\nRussian courts also acquitted the Bazhenovs, Ivan Sorokin and Andrey Zhukov, Dmitriy Barmakin, Aleksey Khabarov and three believers from the Sverdlovsk Region, but these decisions were subsequently overturned.\n","category":"victory","date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/05/011115/image_hu_f7d017e341c14348.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/05/011115/image_hu_b5f2c6efa555162f.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/05/011115/image_hu_2f3799d016392dd1.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/05/011115/image_hu_2e9ae87d0d12e5ca.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/05/011115.html","regions":["kabardino-balkar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1.1","282.2-1","plant","families","secret-witness","acquittal"],"title":"Court in Kabardino-Balkaria Acquitted One of Jehovah's Witnesses Accused of Extremism","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 3, 2024, the Samara Regional Court upheld the verdict of Sona Olopova — 2 years of forced labor. The court deemed her participation in joint Bible discussions via video link to be extremism.\nIn her appeal, Sona noted that the court of first instance did not consider ordinary religious practice as exercising the right to freedom of practicing the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, which the RF Supreme Court did not prohibit. Instead, in the opinion of the believer, only the fact of professing the religion was enough for the court to pass a sentence. The court did not clarify or establish any other circumstances. In her final statement before the judicial panel, she said: \u0026quot;The materials of my criminal case do not contain a single criminal act, not a single statement against the state, against people of other religions or against people of other nationalities.\u0026quot;\nThe \u0026quot;evidence\u0026quot; included an expert study from another criminal case, in which Olopova is not even mentioned, as well as the testimony of a secret witness who claimed that Sona was distributing banned literature but had not seen it himself.\nIn the Samara Region, 10 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already been prosecuted for their faith, five of whom have been sentenced to imprisonment for terms from 7 to 8 years.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-04-03T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/04/051403/image_hu_2496c7ce11997d4b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/04/051403/image_hu_9202fff57af9c7a4.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/04/051403/image_hu_462d5534496f5ff5.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/04/051403/image_hu_72b67071c2a26a0a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/04/051403.html","regions":["samara"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","labor","282.2-2","secret-witness","fabrications","studies-violations"],"title":"The Sentence of Sona Olopova from Tolyatti Entered Into Force After an Appeal — Two Years of Forced Labor for Believing in Jehovah God","type":"news"},{"body":"On March 22, 2024, Anastasiya Fedorova, judge of the Central District Court of Tolyatti, gave Yelena Yurenkova, 53, a 2-year suspended sentence. For reading and discussing the Bible, she was found guilty of the activity of an extremist organization.\nIn her final statement before the court, Yelena stated: \u0026quot;Today, Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses do not lose their joy when they are persecuted for Jesus\u0026#39; name. For me, as for the ministers of old, suffering in itself is not a cause for joy. But if I remain faithful to God during trials, he will help me endure and gain his approval. This is my hope, the foundation of my faith, for which I am being judged today.\u0026quot;\nThe believer and her husband surrounded by friends near the court building The prosecution of Yelena Yurenkova began in May 2023, when the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against her. The basis for this were hidden video recordings of meetings for worship, which were made over 1.5 years. After the search and interrogation, the believer was made to sign a recognizance agreement. In August of the same year, court hearings began, in which a secret witness participated.\nThe prosecutor requested a sentence of 4 years in a penal colony and 1 year restriction of freedom for Yurenkova. Yelena does not agree with the court\u0026#39;s decision and can appeal to higher courts. There are no victims, no damage caused and no proven facts of extremist activity in the case.\nIn Tolyatti, 6 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, including 4 women, have already been prosecuted.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-03-22T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/03/251357/image_hu_b0e49e1033f0c2d2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/03/251357/image_hu_e45c97f646026524.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/03/251357/image_hu_d8d1611cb5b28b06.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/03/251357/image_hu_6a4126f85e17d743.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/03/251357.html","regions":["samara"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-2","secret-witness","hidden-surveillance","suspended"],"title":"Court in Tolyatti Gave Yelena Yurenkova a 2-Year Suspended Sentenced for Her Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"On March 15, 2024, the trial one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, Yuriy Yuskov, who will be 86 in less than a month, was completed in the Novocheboksarsk City Court of the Chuvash Republic. Judge Aleksandr Zubov gave him a 5-year suspended sentence with a 4-year probation period and 1 year and 4 months of restriction of freedom.\nAccording to the investigation, Yuriy Yuskov is guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization and involving others in it, as he \u0026quot;carried out the preaching activity, conducting conversations and teaching religious beliefs.\u0026quot; Without evidence he was accused of promoting the breakup of families. In response, the widower talked about his marriage to Lyudmila, who did not share his religious views: \u0026quot;My wife and I lived together for 59 years and 43 days. Your Honor, are many families today able to maintain their marriage for more than 1 year? I know for a fact that the Bible only strengthens family ties, not destroy them, even if family members practice different religions.\u0026quot;\nOn April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation liquidated the legal entities of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses but did not ban practicing this religion. This thought was emphasized by Yuriy Yuskov at one of the hearings: \u0026quot;The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated publicly that the ban applies only to legal entities and does not prevent believers from practicing their religion. And I understood that I had not lost the right to peacefully practice the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\u0026quot;\nThe prosecution of pensioner Yuriy Yuskov began in November 2020, when they searched his home in the case of three believers from Cheboksary. The security forces returned for a second search in May 2023, when A. Mukhin, a senior investigator of the Investigative Department of the FSB of Russia for the Chuvash Republic, initiated a criminal case against him. The charge was based on the testimony of two secret witnesses; part of the court hearings was held behind closed doors, but the court allowed five listeners to attend the announcement of the verdict. About 30 more people who came to support the believer were waiting for the decision outside the courthouse.\nYuriy Yuskov intends to appeal the verdict.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-03-15T14:19:40+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/03/151419/image_hu_1eda5153206f0b5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/03/151419/image_hu_969044aca1143e89.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/03/151419/image_hu_5941c3c636082295.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/03/151419/image_hu_80beda85fc7187fa.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/03/151419.html","regions":["chuvashia"],"subtitle":"Yuriy Yuskov was given a 5-year suspended sentence","tags":["sentence","282.2-1.1","282.2-2","secret-witness","elderly","suspended"],"title":"Court in Chuvashia Announced the Verdict Against One of the Oldest Prisoners of Conscience for his Faith.","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym \"Yolka\" is being interrogated. According to her, she attended worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses in the homes of believers several times. The witness admits that she did not hear any extremist calls from believers and that there was a friendly atmosphere at the meetings.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Andreyev and Others in Yaroslavskiy","date":"2024-03-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yaroslavskiy/index.html#20240306","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The judge rejects the motion to join the cases.\nThe court reads out the indictment, which states that Penskaya \"took a direct part in religious teaching and sermons,\" \"conducted and listened to lectures based on the religious literature of Jehovah's Witnesses,\" and \"entered into conversations and religious discussions with other participants.\"\nThe indictment was based, among other things, on the testimony of a man under the pseudonym Shepherd, who since June 2022 had been collaborating with the FSB and making covert audio and video recordings of Jehovah's Witnesses worship services.\n\"I do not plead guilty and I believe that the charge against me is illegal,\" says Vasilina Penskaya.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Penskaya in Vyselki","date":"2024-02-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki5/index.html#20240213","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense filed a motion to exclude the examination of Vladimir Rohatin from the case file: \"The expert starts from the testimony of the imaginary witness Ivanov I.I., assuming that this is a reliable source of information. However, the court has not yet assessed the testimony of this witness for their admissibility and reliability, and therefore the testimony and conclusions of the expert in this part cannot be recognized as admissible and proper.\nThe defense also draws attention to significant contradictions between Ivanov's written and oral testimony. For example, during interrogation by the investigator, Ivanov allegedly gave the full name and address of residence of each founder of the LRO \"Jehovah's Witnesses of the village. Krasnogvardeyskoye\", but in court he could not name any of them at least by name. In addition, in court, Ivanov stated that he was not familiar with the charter of the LRO and could not explain what the abbreviation \"LRO\" meant, whereas in the interrogation protocol he freely operated with this and other specific terms from the text of the charter.\nThe court satisfies the defense's petition to exclude the examination from the case file and appoints a re-examination.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Parfenovich and Gerashchenko in Krasnogvardeyskoye","date":"2024-02-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnogvardeyskoe/index.html#20240208","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","studies-violations"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Pavel Kosarev, an employee of the FSB of Russia, is being interrogated. He describes the structure of the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, the functions and structure of the activities of believers. The FSB received all the necessary explanations from a secret witness who \"turned to the department himself in 2022\" and brought CDs with recorded liturgical meetings.\nWhen asked by the defendants to the prosecution witness about the threat to the security of the state posed by the activities of believers, the operative replies that the Witnesses, as an international organization of Jehovah, receive religious literature and guidance from outside. He also says that believers \"do not revere state symbols, refuse to serve in the army, do not observe public holidays.\" Kosarev believes that the study of religious materials, the study of the Bible, prayers — \"all this is part of the structure of the [liturgical] meeting,\" and therefore is extremist activity.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2024-01-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20240130","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On January 29, 2024, Anton Mokin, judge of the Shuya City Court of the Ivanovo Region, sentenced Aleksey Arkhipov, Svetlana Ryzhkova, Svetlana Shishina, and the couple Dmitriy and Yelena Mikhaylov to large fines for their faith in Jehovah God.\nAleksey Arkhipov was fined 380,000, Svetlana Shishina 400,000, Svetlana Ryzhkova 480,000, Yelena Mikhaylova 560,000, and her husband Dmitriy Mikhaylov 950,000 rubles. The prosecution requested a fine of 1,200,000 rubles for Mikhaylov, taking into account the time of detention; for Mikhaylova and Ryzhkova — 600,000 rubles; for Shishina and Arkhipov — 400,000 rubles. The believers insist on their innocence and have the right to appeal.\n\u0026quot;Actually, I am accused of believing in God,\u0026quot; commented Dmitriy Mikhaylov on the accusation. \u0026quot;I am charged with discussing religious topics with my friends.\u0026quot; He also emphasized that the linguistic forensic expert study did not reveal signs of extremism in the materials examined. His wife Yelena said: \u0026quot;The charges against me are serious, but there is no concrete evidence.\u0026quot;\nSvetlana Shishina, a mother of two, said: \u0026quot;I have always respected people of different religious denominations, and I teach my children to do the same.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;The charges against me are far-fetched, unfounded and not lawful,\u0026quot; said Svetlana Ryzhkova. Aleksey Arkhipov, in turn, emphasized: \u0026quot;I have never plotted or intended to commit any illegal actions against the authorities, nevermind undermining the foundations of the constitutional order and state security, as this contradicts my beliefs as a Christian and a God-fearing person.\u0026quot;\nCriminal prosecution of the believers began in 2018; their homes were searched. Later it turned out, that prior to that, a hidden video camera had been installed at least at one of the addresses, and one person, on the instructions of the special forces, feigned interest in the Bible. After his arrest, Dmitriy Mikhaylov spent 6 months in a pretrial detention center. His wife, together with other women whose husbands were imprisoned for their faith in God, sent an open letter to the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. In response to this letter, a request was sent to the General Prosecutor\u0026#39;s Office to check the legality and validity of the criminal prosecution of citizens professing the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. However, the criminal prosecution did not stop. The case was returned twice to the investigator for revision and after 4 years it was re-submitted to the court, which considered the case for 1.5 years.\nOn April 26, 2019, the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion on Dmitriy Mikhaylov\u0026#39;s complaint, calling on the Russian authorities to stop his criminal prosecution and grant him the right to compensation and reparation.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-01-29T16:05:39+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/01/291605/image_hu_994e19bb312b86b9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/01/291605/image_hu_56be0241ab7ca51e.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/01/291605/image_hu_6984153ca51a1a68.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/01/291605/image_hu_4baf6ff7f4f7804d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/01/291605.html","regions":["ivanovo"],"subtitle":"They Must Pay the State From 380 to 950 Thousand Rubles","tags":["282.2-1","282.2-2","282.3-1","sentence","secret-witness","hidden-surveillance","fine","minors","elderly","families"],"title":"Court in Shuya Fined 5 Jehovah's Witnesses for Reading the Bible Together.","type":"news"},{"body":"On January 25, 2024, Tatyana Begunova, judge of the Central District Court of Tolyatti, found Sona Olopova guilty of extremism because of her religion and sentenced her to 2 years of forced labor. She will serve her sentence in a correctional facility. The believer considers the verdict unfair.\n\u0026quot;The evidence presented by the prosecution does not confirm my guilt in committing a crime. All arguments boil down to the fact that . . . in the city of Tolyatti, a small group of people practicing the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses held meetings for worship, which began with song and prayer and were aimed at discussing the Bible,\u0026quot; Sona said in court.\nThe state prosecutor requested 4 years in a penal colony and 8 months of restriction of freedom for the believer. However, according to the believer, the prosecutor could not explain what specific crimes were committed and where and how Olopova committed them.\nSona faced criminal prosecution in May 2023, when an investigator of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against her for participating in the activity of an extremist organization. The security forces searched her home, interrogated her and released her under a recognizance agreement.\nThe believer spoke about the support she received from friends: \u0026quot;When I left the building of the Investigative Committee, I saw how my friends came to meet me and hug me. Many were very worried about me and were crying. So much love, attention and gifts, cards, various messages assuring me of their love and our Father\u0026#39;s.\u0026quot;\nDuring the trial, it became clear that the prosecution had no evidence of the believer\u0026#39;s guilt. According to Olopova\u0026#39;s lawyer, one of the expert studies presented by the prosecution was prepared as part of another criminal case, and conclusions were made in relation to third parties, so this material should not have been attached to her case. Witnesses for the prosecution questioned at the hearing, including one secret witness, confirmed that there were no calls for violence or religious hatred at the meetings of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, and that the meetings were always peaceful.\nCurrently, in the Samara Region, in addition to Sona Olopova, 9 more Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are defending their constitutional right to freedom of religion in the courts.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-01-25T16:02:42+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/01/251602/image_hu_5626a5ea3ee45ae5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/01/251602/image_hu_f86c79c076ace14.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/01/251602/image_hu_2c3c6981d4e9f8c3.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/01/251602/image_hu_a0922cd99b1d8e3d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/01/251602.html","regions":["samara"],"subtitle":"Sona Olopova, 36, From Tolyatti Was Sentenced to 2 Years of Forced Labor","tags":["sentence","282.2-2","secret-witness","studies-violations","labor"],"title":"The First Sentence for Faith in the Samara Region.","type":"news"},{"body":"About 40 people come to the hearing. A secret witness under the pseudonym Murzabekova, whose voice has been changed to male, is being interrogated. Talking about himself, the witness speaks either in the masculine or in the feminine gender. According to her, she attended worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses before 2017 and is personally acquainted with the defendant. To the questions: where, when and how Muzarbekova met Sergey Skudaev, why she began to study the Bible and what was the atmosphere among believers, the secret witness does not give answers, referring to Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Skudaev in Kurgan","date":"2024-01-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan/index.html#20240117","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness Reutov, who attended meetings of believers and kept a secret recording, is being interrogated. He knows the defendant personally, but he has not heard her make negative statements about other religions or calls to disobey the authorities. The defense draws attention to the contradictions in the testimony of the witness.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yelena Chernykh in Prokopyevsk","date":"2024-01-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopyevsk/index.html#20240117","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecution is interrogating technical specialist Y. Lazarev. He explains that the Zoom program is a service for video conferencing, its use in Russia is not prohibited. Agrees that the use of a fictitious name during a video conference can be regarded as a protection of personal data.\nSecret witness I. I. Ivanov, who made video recordings of divine services and handed the disks to the investigator, is interrogated via audio link. He says that songs, prayers and Bible talks were heard at such meetings. In general, he characterizes Jehovah's Witnesses as sympathetic people, and Galina Komissarova as a thoughtful and attentive woman. Ivanov reports that he has not heard any extremist statements from the defendant, including calls to undermine the foundations of the constitutional order, break off family relations, and refuse medical intervention.\nIvanov cannot specify which actions of Jehovah's Witnesses he considers illegal. To many other questions about the work of Jehovah's Witnesses, he says: \"I am not an expert.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Komissarova in Tolyatti","date":"2024-01-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti6/index.html#20240112","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 29, 2023, Sergey Kurunin, judge of the Norilskiy City Court gave two local Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, Aleksandr Polozov and Stepan Shevelev a 6-year suspended sentence. According to the prosecution, they entered into a \u0026quot;criminal conspiracy\u0026quot; for studying the Bible.\nTheir criminal prosecution began back in October 2019, when special police surrounded the camp site, where the believers were relaxing with friends. A criminal case was initiated against Aleksandr Polozov under of Article 282.2(1) of the RFCrC (organizing the activity of an extremist organization), and in May 2021, Stepan Shevelev became the second defendant.\nAleksandr Polozov spent 3 months in a pretrial detention center, and in March 2020 he was included on the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists. Aleksandr is very grateful to his fellow believers for financial assistance after his bank cards were blocked. He was also encouraged by numerous letters: \u0026quot;Some wrote where they had been and what they had seen... Stories of interesting places seemed to push the walls of the prison apart, and I \u0026quot;traveled\u0026quot;. Stepan Shevelev said: \u0026quot;Our friends understand that sometimes we need emotional support, and they do everything to encourage us.\u0026quot;\nIn June 2021, the case went to court. In 2022, it was returned to the prosecutor for the absence of corpus delicti. A new trial of the criminal case began in July 2023. Again, the prosecutor was unable to provide evidence of the defendants\u0026#39; guilt. Also, Polozov was credited with words he never said. Despite this, the prosecutor requested 6 years in a penal colony for the believers.\nStepan and Ksenia Shevelev. Norilsk, December 2023 Aleksandr Polozov and his wife, Svetlana. Norilsk, December 2023 In his final statement, Polozov noted: \u0026quot;I am a Level 5 rescuer for gas emergencies. More than once I risked my life to save the lives of other people and was rewarded for it... My profession does not give me the right to choose whether or not to save a person, based on whether he is a believer or not, whether he is my friend or my enemy. Every life is valuable in the eyes of God, and therefore in mine too. With this in mind, any accusation of extremism against me looks absurd.\u0026quot;\nShevelev said: \u0026quot;I have had the opportunity to talk with many religious people, including Muslims and Orthodox priests. But I did not consider any of them to be beneath me. The fact that we have different religious views does not give me the right to judge them. Besides, that would be contrary to my views.\u0026quot;\nThe believers have the right to appeal the verdict in the court of appeal.\nIn the Krasnoyarsk Territory, five of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already been sentenced to prison terms, and in total, more than 30 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have been subjected to religious persecution in this region.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-12-29T15:53:48+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/12/281056/image_hu_cff70411c4718a07.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/12/281056/image_hu_23e4b3a6ff558af4.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/12/281056/image_hu_8e6222b34365ba6a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/12/281056/image_hu_2d9bb8f737128a42.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/12/281056.html","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1","secret-witness","suspended","rosfinmonitoring"],"title":"In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Aleksandr Polozov and Stepan Shevelev Received a 6-Year Suspended Sentence for Their Peaceful Beliefs","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness is being interrogated. He reports that he attended worship meetings both before 2017 and after.\nThe lawyers again ask the court to declassify the witness, stating that he does not answer questions in his own words, but reads his testimony. The court refuses.\nWhen asked what interested the secret witness in the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, he reports that he \"came there to expose the organization.\" He also notes that he did it because of a \"loved one.\" When asked by the prosecutor to describe the defendants, he replies that he cannot say anything bad about them. The witness also says that he has never seen the statutes of Jehovah's Witnesses' legal entities, and also confirms that in order to be a believer, you do not need to be a member of any legal entity or register on the site.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2023-12-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20231219","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 18, 2023, Oleg Karpets, judge of the Novosibirsk District Court, sentenced Marina Chaplykina to 4 years in a penal colony, and Valeriy Maletskov to 6 years in a penla colony just because of practicing their religion. They were taken into custody in the courtroom. The believers do not admit their guilt and can appeal the verdict.\nIn April 2019, FSB investigator Selyunin initiated a criminal case against the believers, charging them with extremism. On the same day, searches were carried out at a total of 12 addresses. In one case, the planting of banned literature was noticed. The home of Valeriy Maletskov, who lives with his wife and young child, was invaded by armed security forces, breaking down the front door. He was charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization, and Marina Chaplykina was charged with participating in and financing it. He was placed under house arrest, and she was placed under a recognizance agreement.\nAfter three years of investigation, the case was submitted to the Novosibirsk District Court. The charges were based on recordings of conversations with believers made by a secret witness \u0026quot;Ivan\u0026quot;, who attended meetings for worship of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nThe support of friends helped the believers cope with what was happening. Marina recalls: \u0026quot;When they found out that I had lost my job, [fellow believers] immediately put together a food parcel and gave me the money. They sent messages with words of encouragement. I felt part of a big family. When it was especially difficult emotionally, I unexpectedly received letters from Belarus and later from Japan. They were beautiful words of assurance of love. These letters came always at the right time!\u0026quot;\nValeriy said: \u0026quot;Under house arrest, I could not work, so I lost the source of income for my family. But, most interestingly, our family received help from fellow believers in the first 2 months; when we ciunted how much we received in total, it turned out that this isit was exactly the amount that I would have earned if I had been working at my job for 2 months\u0026quot;.\nThe believers were among 8 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses prosecuted for their faith in the Novosibirsk Region. Aleksandr Seredkin, whose case was separated the case proceedings of Maletskov and Chaplykina, is serving 6 years in a penal colony for his believes.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-12-18T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/12/190827/image_hu_f5d26688cf65dc0b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/12/190827/image_hu_1fe48d20999cc2c9.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/12/190827/image_hu_4e802231ed5ee50c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/12/190827/image_hu_7d47ff52db2f37e5.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/12/190827.html","regions":["novosibirsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","282.2-2","282.2-3","secret-witness","sentence","liberty-deprivation"],"title":"Court in Novosibirsk Sent Valeriy Maletskov and Marina Chaplykina to a Penal Colony for Their Faith in Jehovah God for 6 Years and 4 Years, Respectively","type":"news"},{"body":"The court shall examine an information technology specialist as a witness. He says that Zoom, a program used by believers to hold worship services, is not banned in the Russian Federation and is used in state institutions.\nA secret witness \"Ivanov\", who attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses for 5 years, is being interrogated. He says that Alexander Chagan is a calm smiling person. At worship services, the man heard that Jehovah's Witnesses believed in the truth of their religion, but no extremist calls were made. The witness cannot explain what a local religious organization (LRO) is and how the activities of such a legal entity differ from spiritual activities, although the expression \"LRO\" often appears in the protocol of his testimony.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Chagan in Tolyatti","date":"2023-12-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti/index.html#20231214","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court announces the interrogation of a secret witness Perevozchikov. The defense asks to declassify the witness, since there are no grounds for concealing his identity, nothing threatens his life and health.\nJudge Oksana Nazarova refuses to declassify and begins interrogation, but due to technical problems, the witness is not heard. The interrogation shall be adjourned to the next hearing.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2023-12-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20231212","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness Ivanov is being interrogated. The petition to declassify his identity is rejected by the court.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dolganov in Tolyatti","date":"2023-12-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti3/index.html#20231212","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor of the city of Lesosibirsk, Dmitry Snyatkov, approves the indictment against Andrey Shiyan. The accusation is based, among other things, on the testimony of secret witnesses, as well as Grigory Illarionov, associate professor of the Department of Philosophy at Siberian Federal University, who acts as an expert.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shiyan and Matveeva in Lesosibirsk","date":"2023-12-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesosibirsk3/index.html#20231207","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["282.2-1","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness Olenin is interrogated. He says that believers used them to study the Bible, sing songs and pray. He also notes: \"Rights, freedoms and legitimate interests were not violated during the meetings.\"\nOlenin refuses to answer some questions, fearing that his identity may be revealed in this way.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2023-12-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20231201","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The questioning of prosecution witnesses begins. The first to be interrogated is the secret witness I. I. Ivanov.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yurenkova in Tolyatti","date":"2023-11-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti5/index.html#20231128","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The hearing was adjourned for technical reasons: the voice of a secret witness was not heard.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yeritsyan and Others in Novocherkassk","date":"2023-11-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novocherkassk/index.html#20231127","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["secret-witness","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecution petitions for the interrogation of the secret witness Olenin without visual control. The defense objects, but the court grants the motion.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2023-11-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20231120","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret witness under the pseudonym Shukshin, an 85-year-old neighbor of the defendant Nadezhda Korobochko and investigator Golovchenko.\nThe court rejects the request for disclosure of the data of the secret witness. Witness Shukshin informs the court that he attended worship services of believers until 2022. When asked by the prosecutor what was the involvement of other persons by the defendants in the banned organization, Shukshin answers: \"They studied the Bible.\"\nWhen asked by the defense when and where exactly Nadezhda Korobochko distributed the banned literature and whether he witnessed this fact, Shukshin replies that he saw it, but cannot confirm either the year, place, or the people to whom this literature was offered. Nor can the witness explain the difference between the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses and other Christian denominations. He says that Jehovah's Witnesses are also Christians and that their worship services are not meetings of legal entities, but meetings of ordinary believers, and the name of the creed is taken from the Bible. The witness confirms that he has not seen a single case of disrespect for authority by believers.\nNadezhda Korobochko's elderly neighbor explains that she has been living next to the defendant since 1965, but met her only in 2022 - she was carrying a heavy bag, and Nadezhda helped her carry it. Since then, they saw each other several more times, greeted each other, and 2-3 times the defendant helped her carry purchases from the store.\nWhen asked by the defense whether the witness confirms the words of the state prosecutor that Korobochko recruited her, the woman answers in the negative. She states that investigator Golovchenko tricked her into signing the protocol and the testimony in it did not correspond to reality. The woman says: \"He gave me to sign some paper, said that it was necessary to close the case, I signed it. The fact that she recruited me was never like that. He wrote there that she persuaded me. She never persuaded me.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kononenko and Others in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur","date":"2023-11-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nikolayevsk_na_amure/index.html#20231116","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court is interrogating a secret witness, Konstantin Konstantinov, who was twice present at the services of Jehovah's Witnesses. He confirms that the Bible was studied on them, and notes that \"the atmosphere was trusting.\"\nThe defendant submits motions for a larger room and for the declassification of secret witnesses. The judge rejects them.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Skudaev in Kurgan","date":"2023-11-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan/index.html#20231113","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Petrov is being interrogated. The defense shall file motions for the declassification of the witness and for access to justice during the examination of the classified witness. The first court rejects, the second satisfies.\nThe defense is filing a motion to summon for questioning the expert Tatyana Belova, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Personnel Management at Ivanovo State University, author of a religious forensic examination, in which she gave an extremely biased assessment of Jehovah's Witnesses. The defense points out the absence of a copy of the diploma of the relevant higher education in the specialist's opinion, the lack of qualifications for the study of world religions, as well as the relevant experience. In his conclusion, the specialist often refers to the sources indicated in the list of references, but there is no relevant information in these sources.\nDuring the interrogation of the secret witness Petrov, it turns out that he had previously voluntarily attended the services of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Teikov. The man did not hear calls for violence, incitement of religious hatred or overthrow of the authorities at worship services. He also says that during the period of investigative actions he did not receive any threats from the defendants.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vasichkin and Others in Teykovo","date":"2023-11-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/teykovo/index.html#20231102","regions":["ivanovo"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Aleksey Alekseev, who provided information to the detectives and the investigator and gave them explanations on hidden video footage of worship services, is being interrogated.\nThe court rejects the petition of the defendant Alexander Kutin to declassify the witness, since he is against.\nAlekseev informs the court that he has attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses since 2004. He confirms that the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is international. He also says that he attended worship services and participated in the preaching work voluntarily and did so for the purpose of studying the Bible.\nThe witness reports that he is not familiar with any document of legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses. When asked by the defendant Maksim Derendyaev whether it is necessary to belong to any organization in order to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, he finds it difficult to answer.\nAt the end of the interrogation of the secret witness, Maksim Derendyaev makes a repeated request for his declassification, arguing that the use of such extraordinary security measures must have serious grounds, and the witness did not declare them and there were no threats from the defendants or other persons against him. The court shall attach this petition to the case file.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Derendyaev and Others in Izhevsk","date":"2023-10-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk/index.html#20231030","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A defense motion is filed to declassify a secret witness. The court postpones its consideration, as it considers that it is premature.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yeritsyan and Others in Novocherkassk","date":"2023-10-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novocherkassk/index.html#20231030","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["secret-witness","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor is interrogating three prosecution witnesses: FSB investigator Dmitry Shevchenko, specialist Arkady Boyarkin and secret witness Larisa Ivanenko.\nWitnesses inform the court that until 2017 Maksym Zinchenko participated in worship services, but they cannot explain anything about his activities after the ban on legal entities.\nAbout 70 people come to the hearing, and for the first time the spouse of a believer is allowed into the courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Zinchenko in Sevastopol","date":"2023-10-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/sevastopol6/index.html#20231030","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense considers material evidence. It is found that the accompanying document does not correspond to the record of the inspection in the case file, and there is also no tag on the packaging and the signatures of the witnesses. Some packages have incorrect addresses. The prosecutor cannot read one of the search protocols, citing illegible handwriting.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polozov and Shevelev in Norilsk","date":"2023-10-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/norilsk/index.html#20231026","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Ivan Ivanov is being interrogated. The man says he attended Jehovah's Witnesses services for a couple of months in 2015 and never attended them again. According to him, there he was shown in the Bible the answers to questions that were vital to him. The witness relates that at the services the believers sang songs and studied the Bible; He did not hear any extremist statements. He believes that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited, but it is clear that he is confusing the terms \"Kingdom Hall,\" \"congregation,\" and \"local religious organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vasichkin and Others in Teykovo","date":"2023-10-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/teykovo/index.html#20231024","regions":["ivanovo"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The lawyer petitions for the face-to-face interrogation of the secret witness Ivanova, the judge refuses. The prosecutor begins the questioning of the witness Ivanova. She reports that she finds nothing reprehensible in the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The witness confirms that she was never forced to become a member of any religious organization. Answering the prosecutor's questions, Ivanova reports that several people came to the service to one of the believers, among whom were the Piskarevs.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Piskareva in Oryol","date":"2023-10-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/orel4/index.html#20231002","regions":["oryol"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense files a motion to declassify the secret witness, the court rejects it.\nThe secret witness Ivanov is being interrogated. He claims that Sona distributed banned literature, but did not see it personally. He adds that he has never heard from the defendant calls for the refusal of medical intervention or the severance of family ties. He expresses the opinion that \"believing in God is one thing, but listening to instruction [...] \"That means it's an organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Olopova in Tolyatti","date":"2023-09-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti2/index.html#20230920","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Gorchakov is being interrogated. He attended worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses until 2017. When asked by Polozov whether a witness understands the difference between a legal entity and an individual, he replies that for him it is one and the same. He did not hear any negative statements against the authorities from the defendants.\nGorchakov cannot name the dates of meetings with Polozov and Shevelev, he does not remember the topic of discussion. According to the witness, he did not receive any threats from the believers. Nevertheless, he refuses to answer many questions, arguing that his identity will be declassified.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polozov and Shevelev in Norilsk","date":"2023-09-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/norilsk/index.html#20230919","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Ivanov is being interrogated.\nPetitions for the disclosure and verification of Ivanov's identity are rejected by the court. He says that the defendants did not plan or commit any illegal actions. The witness states that there was no aggression towards him and other people on the part of the believers, and peaceful topics such as love and family were discussed at the services.\nWhen asked by Shevelev's lawyer why he began to attend services of Jehovah's Witnesses, Ivanov replies: \"To uncover a banned organization.\" The fact that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, Ivanov, according to him, was not aware. He also does not know whether the organization \"Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia\" has been liquidated. Witness Ivanov deciphers the abbreviation LRO as \"international religious organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polozov and Shevelev in Norilsk","date":"2023-09-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/norilsk/index.html#20230918","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 14, 2023, Zaurbiy Birzhev, judge of the Maykop City Court, found Nikolay Voishchev guilty of extremism solely for his faith. Although the elderly believer has already served 329 days in pretrial detention, he will have to spend yet another 1.5 years behind bars, despite his serious illness.\nDuring the closing arguments, the prosecutor requested for Voishchev, 7 years imprisonment in a penal colony with deprivation of the right to engage in activity related to directing and participating in the work of public organizations for 5 years and restriction of freedom for 1 year. The judge decided to sentence Nikolay to imprisonment for 3 years in a penal colony with deprivation of the right to engage in educational activity, as well as activity related to directing and participating in religious, public associations and organizations for 4 years and with restriction of freedom for 1 year.\nIn his final statement before the court, the believer stated: \"The prosecution requests to sentence me to 7 years... for being an honest person who respects the laws of the country... who loves his neighbor as himself. Seven years for being a good member of the community... one of Jehovah's Witnesses, for applying Article 28 of the Russian Constitution. Seven years for never having committed any criminal acts.\"\nNikolay Voishchev ended up behind bars back in October 2022. Investigator Zaurbiy Blyagoz initiated a criminal case against him under Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC, claiming that he \"organized and conducted secret meetings together with other [Jehovah's Witnesses].\" His arrest was preceded by a series of searches in Maykop.\nThe charges against the believer were based on the testimony of two secret witnesses. During interrogation in court, they could only confirm that Voishchev was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, which he did not hide anyway. The witnesses did not hear any calls for extremism from him. Another piece of evidence for the prosecution was the psycholinguistic expert study of hidden video recordings of meetings for worship, in which believers peacefully discuss the Bible. Ruslan Levinsky, who conducted the expert study, does not have the appropriate education in linguistics. The lawyer provided the opinion of the religious scholar Yekaterina Elbakyan; according to her findings \"the conclusion of the expert [Levinsky] is not based on the provisions of generally accepted scientific data in the field of religious studies, the findings in the expert's conclusion appear to be unfounded.\"\nAlready before his arrest, Voishchev had been diagnosed with a tumor that required immediate treatment. Nikolay also suffers from severe headaches due to an injury sustained in his youth. The conditions of detention and the lack of proper treatment led to a deterioration of his health. He still needs medical attention.\nAlready four Jehovah's Witnesses from Maykop have faced prosecution for their faith. The world community and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation stated that \"the joint performance of rites and ceremonies [of Jehovah's Witnesses] does not in itself constitute a crime under Article 282.2 of the RF CrC, despite the liquidation of their legal entities.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-09-14T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/09/201447/image_hu_4b775ddf3f252be1.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/09/201447/image_hu_7c99d3e353e94abf.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/09/201447/image_hu_1b0dd96505b01abf.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/09/201447/image_hu_b59d240fac5f40c2.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/09/201447.html","regions":["adygea"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["elderly","282.2-1","sentence","liberty-deprivation","studies-violations","secret-witness"],"title":"Court in Adygea Sent Nikolay Voishchev, 68, to a Penal Colony for 3 Years","type":"news"},{"body":"On September 5, 2023, Sergey Kamenov, judge of the Nizhnekamsk City Court of the Republic of Tatarstan gave a 6-year suspended sentence to Denis Filatov, Stanislav Klyuchnikov and Dmitriy Yarchak, who has had a disability since childhood. The court deemed praying and singing religious songs to be extremism.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believers maintain their complete innocence.\nIn November 2020, the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan initiated a criminal case and conducted a series of searches in Nizhnekamsk. An investigation was launched against the three men, which lasted 14 months. In January 2022, the case went to court, where it was considered for a further 19 months. All this time, the believers were under a recognizance agreement. Several witnesses summoned to court for questioning stated that they gave testimony to the investigator under pressure and threats from law enforcement officers, and one woman reported that the investigator arbitrarily added words to the protocol that she did not say. The main part of the charges is based on the testimony of a secret witness.\nSpeaking in court, the believers explained that the RF Supreme Court did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Klyuchnikov said: \"I think that the preliminary investigation agencies are incorrectly and arbitrarily interpreting the decision of the Supreme Court. And the reason I am on trial today, is their misinterpretation, and not the crime I allegedly I committed.\" Denis Filatov added: \"The episodes of participating in meetings for worship imputed to me can only indicate exercising the right to practice my religion and use methods of expressing faith that were not prohibited.\" Dmitriy Yarchak also said: \"While being peaceful and observing the law, I use the right guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\"\nIn Tatarstan, 13 more people have faced prosecution for their faith in Jehovah God. One of them, Konstantin Sannikov, has been sentenced to 6.5 years imprisonment.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-09-05T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_79fd63216177be1c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_5dbafb43e3ab5e03.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_c831c324eae6e89c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_ff618fc682ee1aea.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/09/061348.html","regions":["tatarstan"],"subtitle":"The Court Found Them Guilty of Extremism for Their Faith in God ","tags":["282.2-1","sentence","fabrications","disability","secret-witness","suspended"],"title":"In Tatarstan, Three of Jehovah's Witnesses Were Given Long Suspended Sentences.","type":"news"},{"body":"Prosecution witness Pavel Kosarev, an FSB officer, is being questioned at the hearing. He reports that there is a secret witness in the case who helped \"identify the accused and other members.\"\nWhen asked by Kutin whether the provision of Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation was taken into account when deciding to start the ORM, the operative answers: \"It is not forbidden to freely profess faith in our country, but the elders of the congregation continued the activities of an extremist organization.\" At the same time, the witness, although he claims that he got acquainted with the Charter of the LRO, mistakenly classifies the canonical term \"elders\" as a legal entity in which there have never been \"elders\".\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Derendyaev and Others in Izhevsk","date":"2023-08-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk/index.html#20230828","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"An audio recording of a worship service and a discussion of the Christian attitude to hatred is listened to in court - that it is comparable to murder and that \"it should not even be in the heart.\"\nThe prosecutor states that it is not necessary to listen to the recordings further, since there are already transcripts in the case file. The defense insists on the reproduction of audio files, since the entire accusation is based on these \"material evidence of the crime\". Aleksey Lelikov explains that only audio recordings can be heard intonation, and this can help the court form an opinion about his motives.\nIn the future, the recordings of the services are reproduced in fragments, but Judge Irina Klyuyeva allows the defendant to give brief explanations to them.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lelikov in Krasnodar","date":"2023-08-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar/index.html#20230824","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On August 3, 2023, Irina Vlasova, judge of the Dzerzhinskiy District Court of Yaroslavl, found 4 Jehovah's Witnesses guilty of extremism: 47-year-old Andrey Vyushin and 57-year-old Petr Filiznov were given a 6.5-year suspended sentence; 40-year-old Aleksandr and 35-year-old Mariya Kuznetsova were given a 2.5-year suspended sentence.\nThe court imposed as additional punishment a 6-month restriction of freedom on the Kuznetsovs. Filiznov and Vyushin were given restriction of freedom for 1 year with deprivation of the right to hold leading positions in public and religious organizations for 4.5 years.\nIn the spring of 2021, a series of searches took place in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Yaroslavl. Andrey Vyushin, the father of a young child, as well as Petr Filiznov and the Kuznetsovs were detained. For discussing the Bible, praying and singing religious songs, Vyushin and Filiznov were charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization, and the Kuznetsovs — of participating in its activity. All four believers spent 3 months in a detention center, and then another 2 years under a ban on certain actions.\nThe criminal case against the residents of Yaroslavl was investigated by the Investigative Committee for more than a year; it went to court in August 2022. Judge Irina Vlasova heard the case for over 10 months with short breaks due to the illness of Aleksandr Kuznetsov, who was fighting cancer. The prosecution used the testimony of secret witnesses, but the defendants pointed out that their statements did not correspond with the facts. Other witnesses said that they had not heard from the defendants calls for the overthrow of the state system, the breakup of families or other extremist statements.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed, as the believers maintain their innocence. They emphasize that thanks to the Bible they have become useful members of society. Thus, Mariya Kuznetsova said: “Only love for God and people moves Jehovah’s Witnesses to meet together, read his Word, the Bible, meditate, discuss Bible questions, pray, sing spiritual songs and change for the better.” According to her husband Aleksandr Kuznetsov, the charge is completely contrary to the explanation of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, which states that a religious event in itself is not an illegal activity. “The RF Supreme Court did not forbid me to be a believer, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses… Faith in the living God Jehovah and worshiping him are not evil acts or extremism,” he stressed.\nAccording to the ruling of the ECHR, “only religious expressions and actions that contain or call for violence, hate or discrimination may serve as grounds for suppressing them as ‘extremist’.” Despite the absence of signs of extremism in the actions of believers, the authorities continue the mass prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-08-03T13:44:52+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_8fe144edb1493178.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_7ef69b504cbf58df.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_bca20e7ea412598b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_3b098ce0b963610d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/08/041344.html","regions":["yaroslavl"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","282.2-2","sentence","suspended","families","minors","disability","secret-witness"],"title":"Court in Yaroslavl Punished Three Men and a Woman With Suspended Sentences of 2.5 and 6.5 Years For Their Beliefs","type":"news"},{"body":"The secret witness Taranov is being interrogated, he is in another room. In his presence, the 8th, 9th and 10th volumes of the criminal case are read.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Reshetnikov and Others in Barnaul","date":"2023-07-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/barnaul2/index.html#20230720","regions":["altaisky"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense interrogates the secret witness \"Natalia Ivanova\". Dmitriy asks questions about discrepancies in his testimony. Answering most of them, the witness refers to the fact that a lot of time has passed, and he does not remember or finds it difficult to answer.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dolzhikov in Novosibirsk","date":"2023-06-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk8/index.html#20230626","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 23, 2023, the Tyndinskiy District Court of the Amur Region again sentenced four of Jehovah's Witnesses to long prison terms: Vladimir Bukin, Valeriy Slashchev, and Sergey Yuferov were given 6 years and 4 months, and Mikhail Burkov was given 6 years and 2 months. They were taken into custody in the courtroom.\nSix months earlier, the court of appeal overturned the decision of the court of first instance due to significant violations of the RF Criminal Procedural Code. The believers were then released from the pretrial detention center, where they had each spent 64 days. As a result of the second consideration of the case, Judge Valentina Brykova merely reduced by two months the terms imposed on Bukin, Slashchev and Yuferov. The verdict has not yet entered into force, and the believers have the right to appeal it.\nOn November 11, 2019, FSB Investigator V. S. Obukhov initiated a criminal case against four residents of Tynda because of their faith. A week later, a wave of searches and interrogations swept through Tynda. The believers were charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization (Article 282.2(1) of the RF CrC) because of holding meetings for worship and “at-home Bible studies.” The investigation also charged them with of involving others in extremist activity (Article 282.2(1.1) of the RF CrC) because of Bukin, Yuferov and Slashchev's conversations about the Bible with informant D. Nurakov, who in 2018 began collecting information about local believers.\nIn the Amur Region, 23 of Jehovah's Witnesses have faced prosecution for their faith. Aleksey Berchuk and Dmitriy Golik are serving long terms in a penal colony; Konstantin Moiseyenko and Vasiliy Reznichenko were given suspended sentences. Another seven men are on trial, defending their right to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Most of the cases against the believers in this region were initiated by FSB Investigator Obukhov.\nThe June 2022 judgment of the ECHR points out that believers have the right to practice their religion \"individually\" or \"in community with others\" and that this right “has always been regarded as an essential part of the freedom of religion.” (§ 268)\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-06-23T16:59:49+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/06/231659/image_hu_f1632e04fae327f5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/06/231659/image_hu_eee6b19ee40d213c.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/06/231659/image_hu_f2014de9a89c4efb.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/06/231659/image_hu_55c1fd9f8d9318d7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/06/231659.html","regions":["amur"],"subtitle":"In Tynda, Retrial Case Against Four of Jehovah's Witnesses Ended With Another Harsh Sentence","tags":["282.2-1","282.2-1.1","liberty-deprivation","sentence","secret-witness"],"title":"Once Again, More Than 6 Years in Prison for Their Faith.","type":"news"},{"body":"Three secret witnesses are being interrogated - Olshevsky, Panin and Lisov.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Godunov and Others in Tula","date":"2023-06-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tula/index.html#20230620","regions":["tula"],"tags":["interrogation","secret-witness","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 20, 2023, Yekaterina Ostapenko, judge of the Tsentralnyy District Court of Sochi, found 27-year-old Danil Suvorov guilty for discussing Bible topics and sentenced him to 6 years imprisonment. The believer insists on his complete innocence and can appeal the court's decision.\nIn August 2021, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Suvorov for extremism. This is how law enforcement officers categorized ordinary conversations of believers about the Bible. After searches in Sochi, Danil was thrown into jail. By the time the verdict was passed, he had already spent 1 year and 9 months in a detention center. Because of this, the believer could not be at his mother's side when his grandmother died.\nThe case was based on the testimony of undercover informant Filatov under the pseudonym Udav, who in 2020 himself called Danil and asked for a “Bible study”. The believer told the court that it was free friendly communication: “You could see for yourself by watching the videos that I never invited him to become a member of any organization — the Administrative Center or other legal entities. I still don’t understand what is extremist in this and at what point our conversations [with Filatov] turned into an organization that was liquidated by a court decision.”\nimage_caption: Danil Suvorov taken to detention center after verdict announced, June 20, 2023, Sochi Describing his life principles, Danil refuted the charge of extremism brought against him: “I do not take up arms and oppose any kind of violence, therefore, in the past I made use of the right provided for by the law to opt for alternative civilian service... And for nearly two years I have been trying to find out why I’m facing up to 8 years imprisonment.”\nDanil and his family are grateful for the help of their fellow believers, who \"supported them with words and materially\" and attended court hearings. “Our fellow believers even sent me a package from Finland,” Danil’s mother said. “It was so nice that they showed me attention.”\nTo date, 26 of Jehovah's Witnesses have suffered in the Krasnodar Territory because of their faith. Of the 14 believers who were sentenced to various terms in a penal colony, 4 are from Sochi.\nMichelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calls the sentences for Jehovah's Witnesses harsh and says it \"criminalises the right to freedom of religion or belief, for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-06-20T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/06/210825/image_hu_e6f1f1745e980f90.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/06/210825/image_hu_f22f50b7e913d53.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/06/210825/image_hu_69d9a6d9917bc8a0.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/06/210825/image_hu_f82f238a122f0c7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/06/210825.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["liberty-deprivation","sentence","282.2-1.1","282.2-2","secret-witness"],"title":"Danil Suvorov from Sochi Received 6 Years in a Penal Colony for Talking about God","type":"news"},{"body":"On June 16, 2023, the Novosibirsk Regional Court, chaired by Judge Aleksandra Bogdanova, upheld the sentence against 68-year-old Aleksandr Seredkin. The decision of the lower court entered into force.\nThe believer is still in the detention center; he attended the hearing in the court of appeal via videoconferencing. At the hearing, the prosecutor motioned for the disclosure of documents that were not examined in the court of first instance, but formed the basis of the verdict. According to the defense, this is a gross violation of the law. However, the panel of judges did not satisfy this objection.\nIn the closing arguments, the lawyer noted that the lower court allowed the substitution of the concepts \"organization and participation in the activity of a religious association in connection with the liquidation of extremist activity\" and \"implementation of the constitutional right to freedom of religion\". The defense paid special attention to the fact that Aleksandr's actions belong to the second concept and that they do not constitute a crime, since singing songs and praying are not prohibited by RF law. There are no victims in the criminal case, and nothing prohibited was found in the literature confiscated from Aleksandr.\nAddressing the court, the believer stated that he never coordinated a group of his friends, never controlled them, and never gave any instructions. He added that he has always been and remains a law-abiding citizen, obeys the laws of the Bible, which teach love, honesty and kindness, and for his peaceful activities is doomed to a \"life\" sentence, because when the sentence expires, Aleksandr will be 74 years old.\nDozens of Russian human rights activists consider such an attitude toward the believers \" senseless and heartless \".\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-06-16T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/06/211359/image_hu_11134473a535fac5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/06/211359/image_hu_58503aab1d6cadb8.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/06/211359/image_hu_b8ce9004b69ab5ba.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/06/211359/image_hu_3764f6ae58be9b2b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/06/211359.html","regions":["novosibirsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","282.2-1","liberty-deprivation","elderly","secret-witness"],"title":"Court of Appeal in Novosibirsk Upheld The Harsh Sentence Against Pensioner Aleksandr Seredkin - 6 Years in a Penal Colony for His Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"The Investigative Committee is initiating a criminal case against Sergey Dvurechensky under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is based on the testimony of a secret witness under the pseudonym \"Shepherd\" who has attended Jehovah's Witnesses services in the past. Later, the man again began to communicate with believers and film online worship services in order to transmit this information to the Center for Countering Extremism.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dvurechenskiy in Vyselki","date":"2023-06-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki7/index.html#20230615","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-2","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Investigative Committee is initiating a criminal case against Elena Gadrshina under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is based on the testimony of a secret witness under the pseudonym \"Shepherd\" who has attended Jehovah's Witnesses services in the past. Later, the man again began to communicate with believers and film online worship services in order to transmit this information to the Center for Countering Extremism.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gadrshina in Vyselki","date":"2023-06-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki8/index.html#20230615","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-2","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Dmitry Dmitrienko is being interrogated. His testimony contradicts what he gave at the investigation stage - for example, he says that he was interrogated once, and the case file mentions two meetings with the investigator on different dates.\n\"Dmitrienko\" describes the defendant as a well-read and modest person who adheres to deep religious convictions. According to the witness, \"there was nothing aggressive [on the part of Voishchev],\" but the witness refuses to declassify himself, stating that \"it threatens his life and health.\"\nThe witness finds it difficult to answer some of the questions of Nikolai Voishchev and his lawyer or complains about the poor quality of communication.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Voishchev in Maykop","date":"2023-05-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeya/index.html#20230524","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym \"Natalia Ivanova\" is being interrogated. This witness explains that he had previously attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses, where she saw Dolzhikov several times. According to him, Dmitry and other believers discussed biblical topics and everyday issues at these meetings. The witness never heard Dolzhikov call for violence or the overthrow of the constitutional order. The Witness reported that he had no dislike for Jehovah's Witnesses.\nThe court does not grant the defense's request to declassify the witness. He also objects to the declassification of his identity, although he admits that he has never received threats from Dolzhikov.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dolzhikov in Novosibirsk","date":"2023-05-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk8/index.html#20230523","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Andrey Kozyrev is being interrogated. According to him, he has known Jehovah's Witnesses for a long time - in 2014 he became an adherent of this religion, and at the beginning of 2020 he stopped attending services.\nThe witness describes Voishchev as a calm and shy person. When asked whether there were cases when the defendant showed any aggression in words or behavior, threatened or coerced to commit certain actions, the witness replies that \"this did not happen.\" Kozyrev also says that during the services he did not hear from Voishchev calls for violence, disrespect and oppression of people of other faiths, for the severance of family ties with persons who are not Jehovah's Witnesses and for non-recognition of decisions of state bodies and local self-government bodies.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Voishchev in Maykop","date":"2023-05-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeya/index.html#20230511","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"20 people come to the meeting, 10 people are allowed into the hall according to the number of seats.\nA secret witness under the pseudonym Ilya Sagitov (Alexander Komzolov) is interrogated. He claims that he met with the defendant at his apartment in the period up to 2021. The defense states that it has information according to which Sagitov __ last communicated with Gromov in 2014, and from 2016 to 2019 the witness lived in Finland. The court removes the lawyer's questions to the witness aimed at identifying contradictions.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gromov in Kazan","date":"2023-05-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan3/index.html#20230504","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Ivan\", who attended meetings of believers from 2014 to 2015, that is, long before the period imputed to the defendants, is being interrogated.\nMaletskov and Chaplykina draw attention to the fact that the witness answers questions unintelligibly. The court insists on the continuation of the interrogation and satisfies the prosecutor's request to read out the testimony of the witness given during the preliminary investigation.\n\"Ivan\" informs the court that he has not heard any calls from the defendants Maletskov or Chaplykina for disrespect for state bodies, as well as for refusal to perform military service.\nWhen asked whether the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation banned the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, the witness replies that he is not aware of it and is not interested.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Maletskov and Chaplykina in Novosibirsk","date":"2023-04-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk2/index.html#20230407","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 31, 2023, Judge Yevgeniya Babinova of Moscow's Babushkinsky District Court pronounced a cruel verdict: peace-loving, law-abiding Muscovites are sent to a penal colony for a long time only for their faith. The court gave Ivan Chaykovskiy, 67, Vitaliy Komarov, 47, Yuriy Chernyshev, 59, and Sergey Shatalov, 53, 6 years and 3 months in a penal colony, and Vardan Zakaryan, 51, 4 years and 3 months in a penal colony.\nAll five convicts were taken into custody in the courtroom. They spent the last 2.5 years under house arrest, and during the first six months they were not allowed to communicate with their wives. Three of the five have minor children. Chaykovskiy, Komarov, Chernyshev and Shatalov are convicted under Article 282.2 (1) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — organizing the activity of a banned organization. Vardan Zakaryan was found guilty of involving others in such an organization. The believers themselves claim that they were exercising their right to freedom of religion; have nothing to do with extremism or a banned organization. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed.\nThere are no victims, no damage to property and no facts of illegal actions or statements in the case. Nevertheless, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believers from 6 to 8 years in a penal colony.\nThe case was initiated on November 24, 2020, and on the same day searches were conducted at 22 addresses in Moscow. Video footage by the law enforcement officers was broadcast on state TV channels and was presented as the arrest of extremely dangerous criminals. During the search Vardan Zakaryan was hit in the head with a buttstock and was hospitalized on the same day with a bruised head and hypertensive crisis. Armed law enforcement officers were guarding his hospital room; relatives were not allowed to visit nor give him any food. In that state he was subjected to interrogation during the night, three days after the beating. Then he was placed in a temporary detention facility. The five men spent two to four days in the temporary detention facility.\nIn his appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Vardan Zakaryan's lawyer noted: \"The use of violence, damage to property and other cruel and inhuman treatment cannot be justified against these people, who have strong convictions about the unacceptability of violence, do not resist the authorities and do not take up arms\". Vardan himself, speaking before the court, said: \"My views have nothing to do with extremism and I have not committed any crimes. All my actions were peaceful and determined by my faith in God and love for other people\".\nThe surveillance of the believers was conducted for at least three years. Under the guise of \"operative infiltration\" provocateurs were sent to them, who recorded religious discussions and tried to provoke them to make negative statements about the police. Thus, in 2018, agent \"Makarov\" was introduced. From the very first meeting, he recorded conversations with Zakaryan on Bible topics. These records later formed the basis of the criminal case, which went to court in February 2022.\nIvan Chaykovskiy, a retired veteran of labor and a father of four, who became one of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1977 (long before the formation of legal entities), said: \"We are all being accused of something we didn't do. And today I am being judged merely for my faith and my right to believe in God... You don't need legal entities to worship God, and there is no need to create or reestablish them.\" It is noteworthy that in 2010 Ivan Chaykovskiy was one of the applicants in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow v. Russia, which led to the ECHR compelling Russia to fully rehabilitate the community by paying the believers a large financial compensation.\nIn his final statement, Yuriy Chernyshev expressed bewilderment at the criminal prosecution for his beliefs: \"Throughout my life I have had no criminal record, not a single record with the police. I tried to lead a peaceful and quiet life. Is this the life that extremists lead?\" He came to the conclusion, \"I am not being tried for breaking the law, not for a committed proven crime, but simply because I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses.\" Yuriy Chernyshev was given an award by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.\nVitaliy Komarov added: \"We're just like everyone else. We do not think we are special because we, just like everyone else, face ordinary problems\". Vitaliy has several state awards, including a silver medal of the Order \"For Merit to the Fatherland\", authorized by President V. V. Putin on October 25, 2018.\nSergey Shatalov, hoping for a fair trial, said: \"My conscience is clear both before God and before people. Do I want justice in this court hearing? Yes. However, if the esteemed court decides otherwise, I will wait for God's justice\".\nIn its judgment on the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, the European Court held that \"the respondent State must take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah’s Witnesses\" (§ 285).\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-03-31T16:17:07+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/03/311616/image_hu_da2f0c6f6d2cb9ee.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/03/311616/image_hu_b8f19bfe4ceda1b0.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/03/311616/image_hu_f8eea0063880ba5e.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/03/311616/image_hu_a478c587d5eace4f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/03/311616.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","282.2-1.1","liberty-deprivation","sentence","elderly","secret-witness"],"title":"Moscow Court Sentences Five Jehovah's Witnesses to 4 to 6 Years in a Penal Colony","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness is being interrogated, who in this case acts under the pseudonym \"Khabdrakhmanov Nail Minsagitovich\". According to the defense, the prosecutor's office repeatedly invited him under various pseudonyms to hearings on the case of other believers in Tatarstan.\nAfter interrogating the witness, the defendant Dmitry Yarchak makes a statement about the perjury of \"Khabdrakhmanov\" against the believers.\nJudge Sergei Kamenov removes most of the questions of the defense. The lawyer objects to the actions of the judge.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klyuchnikov and Others in Nizhnekamsk","date":"2023-03-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhnekamsk/index.html#20230330","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of the secret witness \"Titov\", who claims that Andrei Okhapkin led \"the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Kineshma.\" When the prosecutor asks for clarification of the name of the organization, he calls \"the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.\" At the same time, witness Titov cannot explain why he decided that he was present at the meetings of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses, which was located in the Leningrad Region before its liquidation.\nAnswering the lawyer's questions about what happened at such meetings, the witness tells the court that the believers studied the Bible, prayed and sang songs. The witness confirms that Okhapkin has never heard negative statements against other religions, as well as calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order or for the humiliation of human dignity: \"He has never made any threats against anyone.\" Nevertheless, the secret witness refuses to declassify.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Okhapkin in Kineshma","date":"2023-03-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kineshma/index.html#20230315","regions":["ivanovo"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"About 60 people come to the courthouse to support Alexei Lelikov. The prosecutor reads out the charges. The defendant does not agree with the accusation and says that it is not specified. The attitude to the accusation is attached to the case file.\nA classified witness is being questioned in court. He recounts his preliminary testimony in detail. When asked by Lelikov how he determined that he was present at the meeting of the LRO, and not just believers, by video link, the witness replies that this is his subjective opinion. He also says that he received information about Jehovah's Witnesses on television.\nAnother witness recounts a time when he attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses: \"Everything was voluntary, without coercion or sanction for non-attendance.\" With regard to Lelikov, he says that he has not been in close contact with him, but has never heard propaganda of superiority, hatred or enmity from him. He also says that he knows nothing about Lelikov's activities and life in the period from October 2020 to March 2021 (the alleged period of the charge).\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lelikov in Krasnodar","date":"2023-03-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar/index.html#20230314","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"30 people come to the court hearing, 14 are allowed into the courtroom.\nThe secret witness \"Ivan\" does not appear at the hearing, and the court proposes to proceed to the study of the written materials of the case. The defendants object, and the hearing is adjourned for subsequent questioning of the classified prosecution witness.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Maletskov and Chaplykina in Novosibirsk","date":"2023-03-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk2/index.html#20230314","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The judge shall give one of the lawyers the opportunity to speak. He states that the judge asks the witness Leskov questions as an expert, although he is not.\nPetrov also emphasizes that in this conversation, Yerkin and Revyakin recognized that everyone has the right to their beliefs. Yerkin did not hate religion or political parties.\nZyablov draws attention to the caustic remarks of the witness regarding Jehovah's Witnesses. The judge replies that she has already made a remark to Leskov about this.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2023-03-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20230313","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Videos of Witness Leskov, Yerkin and other believers continue to be watched, in which they discuss the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nMikhail Solntsev claims that Leskov asked Yerkin for help in studying the Bible after he signed a cooperation agreement with the FSB. Therefore, he considers that the activities of the witness are provocative.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2023-03-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20230303","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 20, 2023, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan found Tatyana Obizhestvit and the Bochkarevs guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. None of those convicted pleaded guilty.\nTatyana Obizhestvit and Leysan Bochkareva received suspended sentences of two years and two and a half years respectively. Andrey Bochkarev was sentenced to three years and one month of actual imprisonment but was released in the courtroom because he already served this term in a pre-trial detention center.\nFor three believers from Kazan, it all started in January 2020, when Tatyana had guests at her home. An unexpected visit of security forces interrupted the friendly gathering. After the search, law enforcement officers took the detainees—more than 10 people—to the Department for Combating Organized Crime, where they were subjected to aggresive interrogation.\nThe criminal case was initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in December 2019. The investigation lasted almost a year and a half. This whole time, including during the trial, Andrey was in a pre-trial detention center and the women were under house arrest. Thus, for more than three years, they were deprived of liberty without mitigation of the preventive measures, as if they were dangerous criminals.\nIn court, it became obvious that the case was based on false testimonies of secret witnesses and provocateurs. Witnesses for the prosecution contradicted each other and were confused about dates and events.\nAndrey Bochkarev expressed his feelings about what was happening: “The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation made it clear that its decision of April 20, 2017, does not in any way prohibit the constitutional rights of citizens, including mine. I continue to have the right to 'freely choose, hold, profess and act in accordance with religious and other beliefs.' I think that the preliminary investigation agencies are incorrectly and arbitrarily interpreting the decision of the Supreme Court. And I sit on the court bench today, not because of a crime I allegedly committed, but because of their misinterpretation.”\nTatyana Obizhestvit expressed her firm belief that “this criminal case is the political repression of a religious minority—Jehovah's Witnesses. Unfortunately, in Russia anti-extremist legislation is being misused to persecute Jehovah's Witnesses for their faith.”\nThis situation is causing alarm in the global community. For example, the judgment of the ECHR dated June 7, 2022, states: “Considering the above elements and the sequence of events, the Court finds that the forced dissolution of all religious organisations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia was not merely the result of a neutral application of legal provisions but disclosed indications of a policy of intolerance by the Russian authorities towards the religious practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to cause Jehovah’s Witnesses to abandon their faith and to prevent others from joining it.” (§ 254)\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-02-20T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/02/210917/image_hu_f4fdc04ab93c3ab2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/02/210917/image_hu_a4d5f587fd6632b2.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/02/210917/image_hu_72698d15fa8455f6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/02/210917/image_hu_998a4fefea005ccc.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/02/210917.html","regions":["tatarstan"],"subtitle":"The Believers Received Various Terms of Imprisonment","tags":["liberty-deprivation","sentence","suspended","282.2-1","secret-witness"],"title":"Three of Jehovah's Witnesses Sentenced in Kazan.","type":"news"},{"body":"The interrogation of witness Leskov continues. Videos are watched in which Leskov, Yerkin and Revyakin talk about everyday topics, and then discuss spiritual issues. The defense claims that the viewed recordings show that Leskov is clearly and deliberately trying to provoke Yerkin to make compromising statements, for example, trying to force Yerkin to call the passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation \"a passport from Satan.\"\nKonstantin Petrov says that the prosecutor interprets the viewed recordings of conversations in a way that is beneficial to him, and not as it really is.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2023-02-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20230217","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 15, 2023, the Sovetskiy District Court of Kazan sentenced Konstantin Sannikov to 6.5 years in a penal colony. For conducting peaceful religious services of Jehovah's Witnesses, the court found him guilty of extremism.\nSeveral secret witnesses testified in the Sannikov case. According to the defense, their statements did not correspond to reality and indicated personal hostility toward Jehovah's Witnesses. Also Judge Marat Khaertdinov noticed this: at one of the hearings he stated that the witness was clearly trying to slander the defendant.\n“There is no enmity, no hatred, no violence, no calls for them in my actions,” Konstantin emphasized in his final statement. Commenting further on the prosecution's arguments - audio recordings of religious services, books seized during the search, and testimonies of witnesses - Sannikov noted that they simply prove his religious affiliation. “I will continue to profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, since the Russian Federation has not banned anything that I have just listed,” the believer said, concluding his statement.\nThroughout the preliminary investigation and trial – for more than two years – Konstantin has been in a detention center, where he was placed two days after the FSB initiated a criminal case against him under part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organizing the activity of an extremist organization). The believer maintained communication with his wife, Irina, and their four children with the help of letters. Irina told how her husband found a way to support her, even while in the detention center: “He often sends me cute cards and flowers through friends. On our wedding anniversary, the doorbell rang and the courier handed me a huge bouquet of my favorite white chrysanthemums. There was a note in the flowers: “Irishka, my dear, although I am far away, mentally I am always there. I fulfill my promise - I send a bouquet of white chrysanthemums. Love you!\"\".\nIn the detention center, Konstantin's chronic cardiovascular and abdominal illnesses worsened. He bolstered his health with exercise and walks. Letters and parcels from fellow believers from all over the world provided invaluable support.\nThe European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Russian Federation “must take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah's Witnesses... and the release of all Jehovah's Witnesses in custody” (§ 285).\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-02-15T14:47:10+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/02/161447/image_hu_db196b87ee736796.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/02/161447/image_hu_a83f5749b339190.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/02/161447/image_hu_2f538d9c7962331d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/02/161447/image_hu_1dd168d00744dffc.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/02/161447.html","regions":["tatarstan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","liberty-deprivation","sentence","secret-witness"],"title":"Court in Kazan gave Konstantin Sannikov, a Father of Four, 6.5 Years in a Penal Colony for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"The interrogation of the declassified witness Leskov continues. His affidavit given during the investigation shall be read out.\nLeskov answers questions from the defendants. Each of them notes that there are numerous discrepancies between his affidavit and what he says in court. The judge asks Leskov additional questions about the reasons for the contradictions in his testimony. The witness says that he does not understand why this happened.\nDuring the interrogation, it turns out that Leskov passed to the FSB not only audio and video files of worship services, but also personal notes with his conclusions - what he saw and heard should be considered extremism and what not.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2023-02-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20230215","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness for the prosecution, Pavel Alekseevich Leskov (pseudonym Chibis), is declassified. He again explains to the court that, as part of his cooperation with the FSB, he kept secret audio and video recordings of liturgical and personal meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nIn response to the prosecutor's questions, the witness repeats his earlier testimony regarding his vision of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and their worship services. He expresses his personal disagreement with their religious views. However, he notes that Jehovah's Witnesses have never planned any violent actions against anyone.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2023-02-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20230213","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"At the court session, a secret witness is being interrogated - a man with whom Rinat Kiramov talked about the Bible. The man considers the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses to be prohibited in Russia. At the same time, he says that the believers did not carry out extremist activities. The witness partially refutes the testimony he gave during the preliminary investigation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Korolev and Others in Akhtubinsk","date":"2023-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/akhtubinsk/index.html#20230210","regions":["astrakhan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The hearings in the case of Nikolai Voishchev begin. 42 people come to support the believer, waiting for news from the courtroom.\nThe prosecutor reads out the indictment. Voishchev disagrees with the charges against him: \"I don't understand what criminal I have committed?\" The case involves a secret witness \"Dmitrienko\", with whom, according to the prosecution, Voishchev talked about the Bible.\nThe court rejects the defense's request to return the case to the prosecutor in order to eliminate the violations committed in the preparation of the indictment.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Voishchev in Maykop","date":"2023-01-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeya/index.html#20230125","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret prosecution witness Kharchenko, whose identity is first declassified, is being interrogated via video link. It turns out to be Kirill Vasiliev, who is currently serving an 8-year sentence in a strict regime colony. He says that for some time he was in jail together with Ivan Puida and Konstantin Petrov. There were no conflicts, sometimes they discussed religious topics with their cellmates, for example, they talked about Jesus Christ. Kharchenko admits that there were no violent or degrading actions on the part of the defendants, calls for violence against representatives of another religion or nationality.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2022-12-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20221226","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of prosecution witness Ekaterina Petrova, who feigned an interest in the Bible and collected data on believers. She gives the names and addresses of known residents of Vladivostok who profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. She answers in the negative to the question whether she heard calls for violence against other people or for the overthrow of the constitutional order at religious meetings or personally from the defendant.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Barmakin in Vladivostok","date":"2022-12-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vladivostok2/index.html#20221216","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a prosecution witness who had previously feigned an interest in the Bible and secretly recorded conversations with believers taking place in Pavel Romashov's car. The court listens to these recordings. At them, believers talk with a witness about the importance of respecting parents and resolving conflicts, as well as what is the source of happiness.\nAlso on the recording it is heard that the witness shares with believers personal problems and experiences and asks for advice in connection with alcoholism and foul language. The defense asks the witness the question: \"Did you really use all the advice of believers to overcome alcoholism?\"\nWhen asked by the lawyer how he understands the word \"recruitment\", the witness explains that by recruitment he means an invitation to study the Bible. At the same time, he says that for such conversations, he and Pavel Romashov met by mutual consent.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut","date":"2022-12-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/surgut/index.html#20221213","regions":["khanty-mansi"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates the last secret witness, who refuses to answer most of the questions, arguing that the answers can declassify him.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kuzo and others in Yalta","date":"2022-12-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yalta2/index.html#20221209","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A witness for the prosecution, a young man under the pseudonym Maria, who previously attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses, is being questioned. He says that he has never heard calls for extremist actions from Anatoly Senin. The witness finds it difficult to answer most of the questions, he speaks confusedly and is confused in his testimony.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Senin in Kyzyl","date":"2022-12-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kyzyl/index.html#20221207","regions":["tyva"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court continues to interrogate Chibis. A secret witness says that, while attending meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, on the instructions of the FSB, he secretly recorded on special equipment.\nThe defendants cite a number of inconsistencies in the testimony of the witness. The latter answers the defendants' questions evasively, and at times cannot explain the difference in the testimony given in court and recorded by the investigator in the interrogation protocol. The witness admits that he listed the topics of Jehovah's Witnesses' worship services mentioned during the interrogation not as they originally sounded, but in his own interpretation.\nIn the interrogation protocol, Chibis presents a negative view of Jehovah's Witnesses, while during the interrogation in court he admits that the atmosphere at the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses is peaceful. The witness also says that he has not heard insults from the defendants against representatives of other religions and does not know of any cases where they desecrated religious symbols. He reports that the \"methods of conspiracy\" that he believes the believers used include closing the door to the apartment.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2022-12-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20221205","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The interrogation of the secret witness Chibis continues. He talks about the services that took place in the rented premises at the end of 2017 and in the spring of 2018. The witness saw some of the defendants at such meetings. Chibis confirms that they discussed exclusively spiritual issues - about Jehovah God, his son Jesus Christ and the Bible, as well as about showing love, mercy and kindness to people.\nThe witness considers these discussions \"extremist\" because, in his opinion, both the activities of the legal entity of Jehovah's Witnesses and their creed are prohibited. At the same time, Chibis confirms that he has not heard calls for the overthrow of the state system and the like from believers.\nThe witness finds it difficult to explain why he believes that prohibited publications were used at the services - he himself did not check this information.\nChibis believes that the extremism of Jehovah's Witnesses lies in the fact that they believe in Jehovah God, whom they consider to be the one true God. At the same time, the witness declares that \"Orthodoxy is the true religion on the territory of the Russian Federation.\" The judge corrects him: \"We do not have a religious state.\"\nJehovah's Witnesses, according to the secret witness, do not welcome a secular education. Therefore, the information that the defendant Dergacheva was a teacher in a state educational institution becomes a complete surprise for him. The fact that another defendant, Viktor Revyakin, teaches at a college was also unknown to the prosecution witness.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2022-11-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20221130","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness \"Surikov\" is interrogated via video conferencing. A petition is filed from this witness to keep secret the data about his identity, since he \"has reason to believe that his life, health, as well as the life and health of his relatives are in danger for testifying.\"\nThe witness testifies that the defendant allegedly repeatedly criticized other religions and invited him to change his faith. After clarifying the defendant's questions, it becomes clear that they could not communicate with this witness, since Ukhov was in solitary confinement during this period. After that, the witness reports that he cannot explain these facts due to the prescription of the events under discussion.\nThe defendant categorically disagrees with the testimony of the witness and asks to exclude them from the case file. The Court decides to evaluate this application in the final decision.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ukhov in Sovetskaya Gavan","date":"2022-11-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/sovetskaya_gavan/index.html#20221130","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness is being interrogated, who, according to the prosecution, was kept with Ukhov in the same cell of the pre-trial detention center. He says that the defendant allegedly urged him to renounce his faith, but \"due to the prescription of events\" he does not remember exactly to which religious movement Ukhov belongs. The witness also admits that he has not heard any negative statements from Ukhov regarding the state. He also confirms that he did not receive any threats from the believer, and says that the decision to classify his data is his \"personal conviction.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ukhov in Sovetskaya Gavan","date":"2022-11-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/sovetskaya_gavan/index.html#20221129","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates a secret witness under the pseudonym Chibis Alexei Petrovich. The witness is in a specially equipped room in the courtroom. Interrogation is carried out by means of technical communication, which excludes visual observation of the witness, with a change in his voice.\nThe secret witness says that out of interest he has been communicating with Jehovah's Witnesses and attending their meetings since 2012. He notes that believers lead a highly moral way of life, no one has entered into conflicts with him. However, he was irritated that Jehovah's Witnesses believed their faith to be true and also placed so much emphasis on \"righteousness\" and \"decency.\" According to him, he \"had no facts to cling to,\" but after the Supreme Court decision in 2017, he saw an opportunity to counter believers. To this end, the witness agreed to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan","date":"2022-11-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/magadan/index.html#20221128","regions":["magadan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On November 18, 2022, in the village of Tavrichanka, a search was carried out in the house of 59-year-old Viktor Chernov. The next day he was interrogated and placed in a temporary detention center for a day. As it became known, the reason for the detention of the believer was the testimony of a secret agent who collected information about Jehovah's Witnesses.\nThe search took place in the absence of the owner under the leadership of A. A. Tolkunov, investigator of the Investigative Committee, with the participation of employees of the center for counteracting extremism. According to eyewitnesses, the investigator explained what was happening by saying that \"there is information about holding prohibited meetings via the Internet.\"\nThe security forces searched the house, garage and sauna for four hours. At that time, only Viktor's daughter-in-law, who does not profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, was at home. After the search, she was taken to the investigation department for interrogation. The Chernovs' electronic devices were seized, along with a camera, a Synodal translation of the Bible, a calendar and a summary of a Bible talk on the topic “An Honest Marriage Before God.”\nThe next day, Viktor Chernov appeared for interrogation on a summons and learned that a criminal case had been initiated against him under an article for extremism (part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The day before, it was separated from the case of Oleg Lonshakov.\nOn November 20, the court placed Chernov under house arrest and released him from custody.\nMore than 45 Jehovah's Witnesses have faced persecution for their faith in Primorye, more than in any other region of Russia. In the summer of 2022, the European Court of Human Rights declared the accusations of extremism against Jehovah's Witnesses as groundless.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2022-11-18T16:53:33+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/11/211653/image_hu_ec82a4749ff4ce0c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/11/211653/image_hu_9af3bca59e3b419.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/11/211653/image_hu_17e670da830413b9.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/11/211653/image_hu_c3f692ebe8e7e943.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/11/211653.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":"A New Criminal Case Against one of Jehovah's Witnesses in Primorye","tags":["house-arrest","secret-witness","ivs","interrogation","search","new-case","282.2-1"],"title":"After a Day in Detention, a 59-year-old Believer is Placed Under House Arrest.","type":"news"},{"body":"The defense files a motion to declassify the secret witness. The witness agrees and enters the courtroom. Almost immediately, he declares that he wants to use Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The testimonies given by him during the investigation are checked. He will not recognize his testimony and signatures.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yakovlev in Sosnovoborsk","date":"2022-11-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/sosnovoborsk/index.html#20221116","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On November 15, 2022, the consideration of the case of Aleksandr Seredkin was completed in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novosibirsk. Judge Yevgeny Zakharov considered holding religious meetings, saying prayers and reading the Bible as extremist and sentenced the believer to six years in a penal colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom.\nThe criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation against Seredkin was initiated in April 2019 by the senior investigator for especially important cases of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Novosibirsk Region, Lieutenant Colonel of Justice E. V. Selyunin. The believer was accused of \"organizing meetings and leading the reading and discussion\" of religious literature.\nAfter the search, Aleksandr was sent to a temporary detention center for a day, and then the court imposed upon him 6 months of house arrest. When the preventive measure was changed to a recognizance agreement, Aleksandr noted: “Now I could go outside and feel relatively free. But it was unpleasant to see me and my wife being followed.”\nThe investigation lasted almost 3 years, and in March 2022 the case went to court. At one of the hearings, a secret witness under the pseudonym \"Ivan\" who attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses and collaborated with the FSB, confirmed that he had not heard any extremist statements from the defendant. Another witness for the prosecution described Seredkin's actions as follows: he \"read religious literature, organized joint religious rituals, in particular, singing.\"\nThe Seredkins coped with the hardships of the criminal proceedings thanks to the help of relatives and fellow believers: they brought food, took them to the lawyer, printed out documents, and helped to understand the case materials. “On my own I would never have been able to deal with it or even understand it. But there was all this amazing help! Aleksandr shared, “The sons assured of their love and said that they were proud of me.”\nThe believer considers the sentence unjust and can appeal against it.\nIn Novosibirsk, eight Jehovah's Witnesses are subjected to prosecution for believing in God, and two of them have been sentenced.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-11-15T14:22:51+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/11/151422/image_hu_b93c6ef79d68c5c9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/11/151422/image_hu_ae4709b1fef0c01f.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/11/151422/image_hu_1068c9199aa73303.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/11/151422/image_hu_c10e55f24c9303d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/11/151422.html","regions":["novosibirsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1","liberty-deprivation","secret-witness"],"title":"In Novosibirsk, 67-year-old Aleksandr Seredkin Was Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Reading The Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"The secret witness Ivanova is being interrogated. She recounts her preliminary testimony and reports that the defendants are unknown to her.\nDuring the interrogation of the defendants, Zoya Pavlova confirms her written testimony only partially. She informs the court that the investigator put pressure on her and added some phrases to the protocol.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Martynov and Others in Alatyr","date":"2022-11-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/alatyr/index.html#20221102","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness who collaborated with the FSB, under the pseudonym Sidorov A.N., is being interrogated.\nAccording to Sidorov, Sergey Kuznetsov talked with him on biblical topics, in particular, he shared with him a printed article on the topic of family happiness.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kuznetsov and Others in Nevinnomyssk","date":"2022-10-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nevinnomyssk/index.html#20221025","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Since the secret witness does not appear at the hearing, the court reads out his preliminary testimony.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Martynov and Others in Alatyr","date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/alatyr/index.html#20221020","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"About 30 people come to the courthouse to support the believer.\nA secret witness under the pseudonym Pyotr Petrov is interrogated. He informs the court that Zinaida Minenko told him about the Bible teachings followed by Jehovah's Witnesses, interpreting this as an offer to join a religious organization.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Minenko in Zheleznovodsk","date":"2022-10-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zheleznovodsk/index.html#20221006","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 22, 2022, Roman Girich, judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Murmansk, found Jehovah's Witness Vitaly Omelchenko guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization and sentenced him to a fine of 580,000 rubles.\nThe criminal case against the believer was initiated in December 2019. A search was carried out in his dwelling, and a month later the believer was detained in the evening near his house and sent to a temporary detention center. After 2 days, the court released Omelchenko under a ban on certain actions. FSB officers monitored his movements, calls and collected other information about his personal life.\nThe Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Murmansk Region investigated the case for 13 months, and in February 2021 it was transferred to the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Murmansk. Court hearings, which were held behind closed doors, lasted about 20 months. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to six years in prison in a penal colony.\nThe accusation was built on the words of the secret witness \"Polonskiy\". Most of his testimony related to the period before April 20, 2017. He said that preaching was not prohibited in Russia, but at the same time spoke negatively about the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, expressing his personal opinion about the reasons for the liquidation of their legal entities in Russia.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence. \"At liberty or in prison, my worship of God will not stop,\" Omelchenko said, speaking with last word.\nIn December 2021, the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction against Murmansk residents Roman Markin and Viktor Trofimov for reading the Bible and praying to Jehovah God. Four more believers in the Murmansk region are defending in court their right to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is not prohibited by law.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-09-22T17:10:57+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/09/221710/image_hu_d29f416bce11f621.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/09/221710/image_hu_a4e5490852705861.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/09/221710/image_hu_fe689b006a3b3e7d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/09/221710/image_hu_55d13cb90ac4661f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/09/221710.html","regions":["murmansk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","fine","282.2-1","secret-witness"],"title":"In Murmansk, a Court Sentenced Vitaliy Omelchenko to a Fine of 580,000 Rubles for the Peaceful Confession of his Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Elena Romanova is being interrogated. She says that she herself came to the defendant for Bible studies. The woman admits that Zinaida never encouraged her to hate, but, on the contrary, taught her to treat other people with love.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Minenko in Zheleznovodsk","date":"2022-09-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zheleznovodsk/index.html#20220920","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Makarov\" is being interrogated. He says that he is personally acquainted with the defendants Zakaryan and Chernyshev. Despite the fact that no threats were made against him or his relatives, the witness refuses to be openly questioned \"for security reasons\".\n\"Makarov\" says that it was introduced by the operative Podbornov in order to identify the illegal activities of Jehovah's Witnesses. The means to record the information were provided to him, and he used them from the very first meeting with Zakaryan. When asked what harm Jehovah's Witnesses have done to any people, he replies: \"I am not aware of such a thing.\"\n\"Makarov\" confirms that Zakaryan did not show hatred and superiority towards representatives of other religions and did not incite genocide and mass repressions. During the meetings, they studied the Bible.\nThe lawyer asks to read out the testimony given by \"Makarov\" during the preliminary investigation, as they contain contradictions with the testimony given in court. The court agrees.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Chaykovskiy and others in Moscow","date":"2022-09-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow/index.html#20220919","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness Kuzmin is being interrogated. The lawyer and the defendant have to conduct the interrogation without preparation, since they were not notified in advance.\nThe court attaches to the case file the text of Gusev's attitude to the charges, but without appendices.\nAbout 20 people come to support the believer.\n","caseTitle":"Gusev's case in Krasnoyarsk","date":"2022-09-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnoyarsk9/index.html#20220914","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"16 people are allowed into the meeting room.\nA secret witness under the pseudonym \"Semyonov Oleg Evgenievich\" is being interrogated. He says he knows the defendant at work. Giving Saparov a description, \"Semenov\" states that the fact that the defendant refused to attend the event to which he invited him on the first day of acquaintance, prompted him to the idea that Saparov leads a closed lifestyle and in \"this religion events and holidays are prohibited, they communicate only in their own circle.\"\nWhen asked by the lawyer whether Saparov showed any aggression or threats against him, the witness replies that all communication on the part of Saparov was formal, only on work issues, and that there was no aggression on his part, but despite this, the witness refuses to continue the interrogation in the courtroom, as he fears \"for his safety and the safety of his loved ones.\"\nWhen asked by a lawyer whether the witness understands the difference between a legal entity and a religion and what was forbidden, the witness replies: \"Religion, well, I think so.\" The witness refuses to answer many other questions from the lawyer without explaining his position in any way or saying that he does not remember, although at the beginning of the interrogation he characterizes his memory as \"perfect\". When asked by the lawyer how he feels about the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, the witness replies that it is negative.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Saparov in Maykop","date":"2022-08-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/maykop2/index.html#20220816","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Secret witness Reutov, who had previously testified against another believer from Prokopyevsk, Andrei Vlasov, is being interrogated.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Chernykh in Prokopyevsk","date":"2022-08-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk2/index.html#20220808","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On August 5, 2022, the judge of the Zelenogorsk City Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Marina Petukhova, found 62-year-old Aleksandr Kabanov guilty of extremist activities and sentenced him to 2 years of suspended sentence.\nAt the end of December 2019, a series of searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in the closed city of Zelenogorsk. Law enforcement officers interrogated 8 people, among whom were minors. The Investigative Committee of Russia for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia opened a criminal case against Aleksandr Kabanov, the security forces detained him at his workplace. Later, his home was searched. He was arrested and placed in a temporary detention center for a day. The believer was charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). Later, the article of the charge was mitigated by Part 2 of Art. 282.2 (participation in the activities of an extremist organization).\nAccording to investigators, Kabanov \"organized... the activities of 24 groups of members of the banned organization and supervised their activities,\" which consisted of holding peaceful meetings where believers read and discussed the Bible. The security forces also considered it a crime to talk about God with those who do not share the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nThe investigation went on for 1 year and 2 months, and on February 15, 2021, the case was submitted to the Zelenogorsk City Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. After about 10 months of court hearings, instead of announcing the verdict, the court returned the case to the stage of judicial investigation.\nAs emphasized by the defense and Aleksandr Kabanov himself, there is not a single evidence in the case that he caused any harm to anyone. During the court hearings, the secret witness also did not confirm the charges against the defendant. Nevertheless, state prosecutor A.V. Ermakova asked the court to sentence the believer to 2.5 years in prison.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-08-05T14:53:09+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/08/051453/image_hu_774e99aab196286.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/08/051453/image_hu_1a7fe6769a4e52cd.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/08/051453/image_hu_d85ceb21e87cd8d6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/08/051453/image_hu_677c4277504ce606.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/08/051453.html","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","282.2-2","secret-witness","elderly"],"title":"A Court in the Krasnoyarsk Territory Sentenced one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Aleksandr Kabanov, to a Suspended Sentence for Discussing the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"On August 5, 2022, the Stavropol Regional Court, chaired by Judge Andrey Shever, partially granted the appeal and commuted the sentence, replacing Konstantin Samsonov with 7.5 years in prison for a fine. The believer is expected to be released on August 8.\nAccording to preliminary information the court also partially satisfied the prosecutor's appeal, increasing the amount of fines for other defendants in the case—Aleksandr Akopov and Shamil Sultanov. Taking into account the period of detention in a pre-trial detention center, all three believers were fined, payable: Sultanov and Akopov—250,000 rubles each, and Samsonov—400,000 rubles.\nUpdate. It became known that the court imposed a fine of 1,400,000 rubles on Konstantin Samsonov and 1,000,000 rubles on Aleksandr Akopov and Shamil Sultanov. However, given the long period pre-trial detention, the punishment was reduced to fines of 400,000 rubles for Samsonov and 250,000 rubles each for Akopov and Sultanov. On April 19, 2022, the judge of the Neftekumskiy District Court Maksim Mazikin considered the conversations of three believers about God to be extremism. Of these, Konstantin Samsonov, the leading systems engineer at the Neftekumsk Central District Hospital, received the most severe sentence for his faith.\nThe process was held with violations, the prosecution did not provide evidence of crimes on the part of believers, as witnesses the prosecutor involved repeatedly convicted persons, including those who did not know the defendants, and the secret prosecution witness “Agafonov” admitted that the believers did not cause any harm to him or anyone or otherwise.\nAddressing the court at the appeal hearing, Samsonov emphasized that extremism was alien to him. He added: “I not only implemented federal programs for the digitalization of healthcare, but also participated in subbotniks to improve the city, did not lead an immoral lifestyle, raised a responsible son . . . I myself chose the Christian path. This is not extremism!”\nSamsonov, Akopov and Sultanov spent a year behind bars. Due to the imposed restrictions for more than two years, they were forced to wear special sensors that record their movements.\nOn June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled to end the persecution of Russian Jehovah's Witnesses on religious grounds and to release all believers illegally imprisoned.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-08-05T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/08/081523/image_hu_79894e1a49e6621d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/08/081523/image_hu_22c9692d5c34cc9c.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/08/081523/image_hu_7c0dabacaa65c43a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/08/081523/image_hu_79946088556ad6ce.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/08/081523.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","282.2-1","282.3-1","fine","mitigation","secret-witness"],"title":"Appeal in Stavropol Replaced Seven and a Half Years in Prison for Konstantin Samsonov With a Fine","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Ivanova Maria Ivanovna is being interrogated. She expresses her negative attitude towards the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The woman regularly attended worship services of believers. She says that she was not called to join any legal organization and that attending worship services was her personal decision.\nThe prosecutor declares the disclosure of the testimony of the witness, because during the investigation \"Ivanova\" claimed that she had collaborated with law enforcement agencies, and in court she repeatedly denies this. After reading out her testimony by the prosecutor, she nevertheless admits the fact of cooperation with the security forces.\nDuring the hearing, Olga Opaleva becomes ill, an ambulance is called for her.\nInterrogation of the defendants is planned at the next hearings.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Malevaniy and Others in Spassk-Dalny","date":"2022-08-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/spassk-dalny/index.html#20220802","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym \"Jasmine\" is invited for interrogation. The defendants file two motions - to declassify the witness in accordance with Article 278 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation and to ensure access to justice (so that the secret witness is alone, without means of communication, copies of interrogation protocols, etc.). The judge rejects both motions.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Dubovenko and Litvinyuk in Armyansk","date":"2022-07-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/armyansk/index.html#20220721","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The interrogation of the secret witness \"Sidorova\" continues. Answering the questions of the defendants and their defenders, she says that a friendly atmosphere reigned at the services, the people were pleasant and positive. Exclusively religious issues were discussed, believers sang songs and prayed. The woman confirms that she was not forced to accept this or that point of view, no one recruited her. According to the witness, she was free to leave, she was not forcibly detained at services, she was not forced to pray. She was not anxious. There were no weapons at the services.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Malevaniy and Others in Spassk-Dalny","date":"2022-07-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/spassk-dalny/index.html#20220719","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor reads out the indictment.\nNikolay Saparov speaks with an attitude to the accusation. He pleaded not guilty and stated: \"I did not and could not have had a motive of hatred or enmity. My life, as well as the actions that I am accused of, are exclusively peaceful.\"\nThe interrogation of a secret witness begins, who admits that during his acquaintance with Nikolai Saparov, he never showed aggression in words or behavior, did not force him to any actions, did not threaten him or other people.\nWhen asked whether Saparov ever called for violence, disrespect or harassment of anyone on the basis of religious affiliation, the witness answered in the negative. He also states that Jehovah's Witnesses consider their religion to be the only true religion. At the same time, he does not remember Saparov expressing the idea of the superiority of his religion over others.\nA secret witness declares that the local congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses belong to the Maykop LRO. Nikolay Saparov draws the court's attention to the fact that the witness does not understand the difference between the legal entities of a religious organization and its canonical structure and bases his testimony on his own assumptions.\nAt the next hearing, another secret witness is scheduled to be questioned.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Saparov in Maykop","date":"2022-07-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/maykop2/index.html#20220713","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"To support the believer, 40 people come to the courthouse.\nA secret witness under the pseudonym Tajiev Murat, who did not appear at the meeting for a long time, is being interrogated. He confuses the concepts of a legal entity and religion itself.\nThe defense file a motion to include the interrogation of the secret witness Shigapov in the case of A. Bochkarev, where Murat Tadzhiev gives the same testimony word for word. The lawyer also petitions to summon investigators for questioning and to attach the protocol to the case. The court refuses to do so, but leaves the petition in the case.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sannikov in Kazan","date":"2022-07-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan2/index.html#20220701","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Sidorova\" is being interrogated. The judge rejects the request for its declassification.\nDuring interrogation, Sidorova says that she attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses in late 2017 and early 2018 on behalf of the FSB in order to spy on believers. She notes that at these meetings, believers \"talked about Jehovah God, read the Bible, and discussed divine topics.\" She had not heard any calls for violent action against any group on the basis of race, language, nationality or religion.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Malevaniy and Others in Spassk-Dalny","date":"2022-06-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/spassk-dalny/index.html#20220630","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court is interrogating a secret witness under the pseudonym \"Ivan\" who says he has never heard from the defendant extremist statements, negative assessments of people who are not Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as calls for the severance of family or family relations. It affirms that it is acceptable for Jehovah's Witnesses to repay their debt to the state in a non-military manner, such as civilian alternative service.\nThe judge does not satisfy the believer's request to declassify the identity of the secret witness.\nThe defendant draws the court's attention to the fact that the secret witness makes assumptions instead of facts and is mistaken in the dates.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Seredkin in Novosibirsk","date":"2022-06-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk7/index.html#20220621","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On May 25, 2022, the judge of the Metallurgicheskiy District Court of Chelyabinsk, Maria Melnikova, found 45-year-old Pavel Popov from Yemanzhelinsk guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. The court found it a crime to discuss Bible topics with friends. Pavel Popov encountered manifestations of religious intolerance already in 2012: then law enforcement officers disrupted a big worship service of Jehovah's Witnesses. The believers went to court and won the process. At that time, Pavel Popov was subjected to surveillance, interrogations in the FSB, he was subjected to psychological pressure.\nIn March 2019, about 10 security officials in masks and with machine guns broke into the Popovs' house with a search. The believer was brought in as a witness in the case of Valentina Suvorova. Two years later, he became a defendant in a criminal case himself, and the Popovs were again searched, after which the entire family, including their minor daughter, was taken for interrogation. The believer recalls: “The operative said to me: ‘Maybe you will start making confessions already?’ I replied: ‘What should I confess to? Because I'm an extremist? How can I confess to something that I did not do and of which I am not guilty”.\nOn April 22, 2021, the investigator of the Chelyabinsk Department of the Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Chepenko, opened a criminal case against Popov under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, considering prayers, conversations about the Bible and the performance of religious songs a crime. The criminal prosecution had a negative impact on the believer's entrepreneurial activities—the customer refused to pay for his work at three sites due to pressure from the investigation. Popov spent more than a year under house arrest. He said that in doing so, the investigator took into account his circumstances: “I work in another city 50 km from home, and I was allowed to travel that far.”\nThe investigation of the case lasted more than 6 months, after which, on November 2, 2021, the materials were submitted to the Metallurgichesky District Court of Chelyabinsk. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 8 years in a penal colony.\nThe hearings revealed falsifications in the testimonies of the main witnesses for the prosecution. Although they claimed that the Popovs talked to them about the Bible, the documents presented to the court disproved this. One of the women was unable to identify the defendant in the courtroom. Witnesses for the prosecution, including law enforcement officers, admitted that Pavel Popov did not voice extremist appeals and did not promote religious superiority. The same was admitted by the police agent \"Liliya Ruzaeva\", who had previously collected information about the Chelyabinsk believers.\nIn his last speech, Pavel Popov said: “In this trial, the prosecution never mentioned any extremist acts on my part. Continued activities of an extremist organization? The prosecution did not discuss this issue. The accusation is based only on the fact that I am a believer and that I believe in Jehovah.”\nNevertheless, the court sentenced Popov to 6 years suspended sentence with 4 years of probation. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence.\nDespite clarifications of the Plenum of the Supreme Court and appeals from human rights organizations, Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia continue to be subjected to repression on religious grounds.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-05-25T15:21:16+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/05/261521/image_hu_ad4d5101fca7bf2a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/05/261521/image_hu_27e1922567683861.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/05/261521/image_hu_562b24b4acc3d4c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/05/261521/image_hu_a7c12a7c7d6e716b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/05/261521.html","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","sentence","suspended","secret-witness"],"title":"Pavel Popov, an Entrepreneur From the Chelyabinsk Region, Was Handed a Six-Year Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 23, 2022, Olga Marchenko, a judge of the Pavlovsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory, sentenced 45-year-old Lyudmila Shchekoldina to four years and one month in a penal colony. The woman was taken into custody in the courtroom. The court equated her ordinary religious practices with participation in the activities of an extremist organization and involving others in it.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. Shchekoldina insists on her complete innocence.\nAlthough Lyudmila Shchekoldina's health has recently deteriorated and she needs a surgery, the prosecutor asked the court to find the believer guilty under Articles 282.2 (1.1), 282.2 (2) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentence her to 4.5 years in prison.\nThe criminal case against Lyudmila Shchekoldina was initiated on April 23, 2020. A week later, a series of searches took place in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Krasnodar Territory, and Lyudmila also became a victim. The accusation against the believer was based on a report by intelligence agent Ilchenko that the woman tried to involve him in the activities of an extremist organization. This is how he described their conversations about the Bible.\nThe case of Shchekoldina was investigated by the investigative department of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory for a year. On May 13, 2021, the case went to court. It was examined by Judge Olga Marchenko of the Pavlovsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory, the same judge who sentenced one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Vladimir Skachidub, to 4 years in prison.\nRussian human rights activists and the world community consider criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses for the faith incompetent and strongly condemn it.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-05-24T14:52:11+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/05/241452/image_hu_80d4769b59669150.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/05/241452/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/05/241452/image_hu_4e2b4c2aa00a582c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/05/241452/image_hu_87841fd0a7eea12.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/05/241452.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1.1","282.2-2","sentence","secret-witness","health-risk"],"title":"A Court Sentenced a Woman, Located in the Krasnodar Territory, to a Four-Year Penal Colony Term for Practicing Her Faith in Jehovah God","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 12, 2022, the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court upheld the verdict against Victoriya Verkhoturova from Nizhny Novgorod. A panel of judges chaired by Nikolay Kozlov found the believer guilty of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, interpreting this as extremism.\nIn November 2021, a lower court sentenced Verkhoturova to 4 years suspended for participation in the activities of a banned organization. The verdict has entered into force. The believer still does not plead guilty to extremism and has the right to appeal the verdict on cassation.\nIn the summer of 2019, the home of Victoriya and her husband Sergey was searched, during which the believers were subjected to psychological pressure. Phones were tapped in the family for a long time and covert video filming was carried out. For 1 year and 10 months, Victoriya was under house arrest and proper behavior.\nThe case featured a secret witness of \"Sidorov\" and a witness for the prosecution, who \"never heard that Viktoriya Verkhoturova involved anyone in a banned organization\", and also \"never saw her on stage with any appeals.\" The other prosecution witness never met Victoriya in person.\nIn total, 16 people in the Nizhny Novgorod region are subjected to criminal prosecution for believing in Jehovah God. Victoriya's husband Sergey Verkhoturov received 6 years of suspended sentence, three more were given 3 years suspended.\nAccording to the statement of the Government of the Russian Federation, “the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 20, 2017 and the appeal ruling of the Board of Appeal of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated July 17, 2017 do not provide an assessment of the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to profess individually the above religion”. On October 28, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the religious services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint performance of rites and ceremonies, in themselves do not constitute a crime under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, despite the liquidation of their legal entities.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-05-12T13:50:48+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/05/131350/image_hu_4ce933f8e296dec7.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/05/131350/image_hu_5da027ee770c4e55.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/05/131350/image_hu_12dbd243d7c5b427.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/05/131350/image_hu_4067e316f1a4da39.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/05/131350.html","regions":["nizhegorod"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","families","282.2-2","suspended","hidden-surveillance","secret-witness"],"title":"A Nizhny Novgorod Appeal Upheld Victoriya Verkhoturova's Four-Year Suspended Sentence","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 12, 2022, the Primorye Regional Court of Vladivostok upheld the conviction of 49-year-old Sergey Melnikov for continuing to attend Jehovah's Witnesses’ services and discussing the Bible with residents of Ussuriysk.\nThe verdict has entered into force. The believer still insists on his innocence and has the right to appeal against it in cassation.\nSergey Melnikov has been subjected to criminal prosecution for more than two years, which began in June 2019. He was detained in his own car during a conversation with agent provocateur Konstantin Belousov, who collaborated with the FSB. He asked Melnikov questions about the Bible and made audio recordings of their conversations. At the same time, in his testimony in court, Belousov admitted that the believer had not forced him to talk about the Bible or encouraged him to join Jehovah's Witnesses. Despite this, Melnikov was searched and arrested, spent 122 days in a pre-trial detention center and 145 days under house arrest, and since February 2021 he has been under recognizance agreement.\nDuring the hearings in the first instance court, the prosecutor requested a 4-year suspended sentence. On February 3, 2022, the judge of the Ussuriysk District Court of Primorye Territory, Dmitry Babushkin, passed a suspended sentence of 3 years with a probationary period of 2 years and 8 months of restriction of liberty.\nIn Primorye, 39 believers have already been prosecuted. Six of them have been sentenced.\nRussian human rights activists consider the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses groundless. Olga Sibireva, an expert from the SOVA Human Rights Center, draws attention to the absence of any facts confirming the accusations of Jehovah's Witnesses of extremism. In her opinion, “there are no calls for terrorism and something like that, because Jehovah’s Witnesses are a completely peaceful doctrine.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-05-12T10:24:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/05/121023/image_hu_bfd679560022b5ee.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/05/121023/image_hu_7f851fb2b094a136.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/05/121023/image_hu_2edad45cf0a931e8.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/05/121023/image_hu_2d741fa6d95a0bb9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/05/121023.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-2","secret-witness"],"title":"Sergey Melnikov's Primorye Appeal Was Upheld: A Three-Year Suspended Sentence for Practicing His Faith in Jehovah God","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 6, 2022, the judge of the Sovetskiy District Court of Nizhny Novgorod, Ivan Karnavskiy, found Galina Abrosimova guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist community and sentenced her to 6 years of suspended imprisonment. The court considered meeting with friends to discuss the Bible as extremism.\n“Extremism is alien to me. Why? Because he is alien to both Jehovah God and his son Jesus Christ,” the believer emphasized in her last word. “The criminal case is absolutely illogical for me, given that I did not kill anyone, did not steal anything, and did not commit other crimes.”\nGalina Abrosimova worked as a pharmacist and histologist, and now she is on a well-deserved rest. In 2000, the woman lost her husband, and she had to raise two children alone. She suffers from serious chronic diseases.\nIn June 2019, Oleg Makerov, senior investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod Region, opened a criminal case against unidentified persons. After 1.5 months, the police and FSB searched 35 houses of residents of the Nizhny Novgorod region, including Galina. The believer was placed in a temporary detention center for 2 days, after which a preventive measure was chosen for her in the form of a written undertaking not to leave, under which the believer has been for more than 2.5 years. In September 2021, it was submitted to the Sovetskiy District Court of Nizhny Novgorod.\nThe accusations were based on the testimony of secret witnesses, one of whom admitted that he did not know what role the defendant played at the services. On behalf of the defense, the son of Galina Abrosimova spoke in court. He said that after she began to study the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, she changed and \" stopped abusing alcohol, her upbringing began to go softer ... all the conflicts that occurred were resolved without shouting, without swearing.\" The witness also added: “[She] taught to treat the authorities with respect, taught to obey the current laws that are in the legislation. She also taught to always respect the views of others, because every person in our country has the right to his own opinion.\nDespite the absence of victims in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Galina to 7 years in prison. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on her complete innocence.\nIn 2021, five Jehovah's Witnesses from the Nizhny Novgorod Region were given suspended sentences of 3 to 6 years in prison. Two more, Maksim Zavrazhnov and Kirill Evstigneyev, are awaiting a court decision.\nNizhny Novgorod security officials have long been putting pressure on local believers. Even before the 2017 Supreme Court decision to ban legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses came into force, the security services disrupted worship services and planted literature from the list of extremist materials.\nThe repression of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is carried out despite repeated assurances from the authorities that the religion is not banned.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-05-06T15:18:20+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/05/061518/image_hu_cccd9a2fef478d64.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/05/061518/image_hu_ed7d647516a602b2.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/05/061518/image_hu_f6d6de815eb003d9.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/05/061518/image_hu_dac30fd28cb3f444.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/05/061518.html","regions":["nizhegorod"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["suspended","sentence","282.2-1","secret-witness"],"title":"A Nizhny Novgorod Court Sentenced 55-Year-Old Widow Galina Abrosimova to a Six-Year Suspended Prison Term for Reading the Bible With Friends","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 21, 2022, the Primorskiy Regional Court in Vladivostok approved the verdict against Yuriy Belosludtsev and Sergey Sergeyev from Luchegorsk. A panel of judges chaired by Yevgeniy Oleshchenko found the believers guilty of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, interpreting this as extremism.\nThe lower court sentenced civilians to 6 years of suspended sentence with a probationary period of 5 years and restriction of freedom for 1 year and 9 months. They had to spend half a year in a pre-trial detention center, about 5 months under house arrest and more than two years under house arrest. They were included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring, having blocked bank accounts.\nThe accusations against the believers were based on videos of conversations on biblical topics made by an FSB agent. The court ruled that talking about God and reading the Bible with friends was extremist activity. The verdict has entered into force. The believers still do not admit their guilt and have the right to appeal to the court of cassation.\nThis is already the fifth conviction of Jehovah's Witnesses in Primorye Territory. In total, criminal cases for faith were initiated against 39 people in the region. It should be noted that the first in Russia acquittal of a Jehovah's Witness under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was canceled by the same court of appeal.\nIn connection with the growing number of criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses, Tatyana Moskalkova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, noted in her report to V. V. Putin: “The events taking place with the followers of Jehovah's Witnesses make us think about the existence of a conflict between the constitutional right to practice one's religion . . . and signs of extremist activity specified in Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-25T14:37:12+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/251437/image_hu_ff49fa208f08246f.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/251437/image_hu_ecdfb77aa828de74.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/251437/image_hu_8ce81a97c2a893bf.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/251437/image_hu_99630800a8e64c8d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/251437.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-2","282.2-1.1","rosfinmonitoring","secret-witness"],"title":"An Appeal in Vladivostok Upheld the Sentence of Two Believers from Luchegorsk—a Six-Year Suspended Sentence for Practicing Faith in God","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 14, 2022, the Severskiy City Court of the Tomsk Region sentenced Sergey Belousov to three years suspended sentence. Despite the recent clarification of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Judge Yekaterina Soldatenko found the believer guilty of extremism only for participating in peaceful worship.\nThe court deprived Belousov of the right to post materials in information and telecommunication networks and on the Internet for a period of 5 years with restriction of freedom for 1 year. The believer is also forbidden to leave the house from 22:00 to 6:00, visit places of sports, cultural, entertainment and public events and participate in them.\nThe accusation was based on the testimony of the notorious Kira Klisheva, an intelligence agent who collected information about believers in Seversk and made covert videos of worship services. The court reviewed five such records. The prosecution did not present any evidence of Belousov's extremist activities. Despite this, the prosecutor asked for a sentence of 5 years in a general regime penal colony with restriction of freedom for 1 year for the believer.\nIn his last speech, Belousov emphasized: “It is important for me to have a good reputation in the eyes of God. Of course, under pressure, out of fear, someone can give up their beliefs. But what's next? How to live with it? To trample your conscience? Never! It is better to be not recognized by people, but approved by God.”\nSergey Belousov faced criminal prosecution for his faith back in July 2020, when officers from the Investigative Committee and the FSB broke into the homes of several families in Seversk. Then the case was brought against another believer, Yevgeniy Korotun. In March 2021, the investigative department for ZATO in Seversk brought the case against Belousov into a separate proceeding and placed him on a recognizance agreement. Three months later, the case went to court.\nThe criminal prosecution proved to be a test for the entire Belousov family: the feeling of constant surveillance does not leave them and any knock on the door reminds them of the search they experienced. Due to the constant stress Sergey's chronic diseases worsened. Because of his travel ban he could not visit his elderly parents. “I worry about my father and mother. I am sorry that I cannot be with them: they are already aged, and my father has to deal with a serious illness that threatens his life,” Belousov shared.\nThe verdict has not entered into force. The believer insists on his complete innocence and has the right to file an appeal.\nIn the Tomsk Region, 7 Jehovah's Witnesses are already being repressed simply for not giving up their peaceful beliefs. One of them, Sergey Klimov, is currently serving a long term in a penal colony, and 80-year-old Yelena Saveliyeva was sentenced to 4 years of probation.\nThe world community and Russian human rights activists unanimously condemn the infringement of the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-18T09:15:36+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/180915/image_hu_91aab79ba81b08c2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/180915/image_hu_104b9509c3f8c753.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/180915/image_hu_9ec4be18fe9aadfd.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/180915/image_hu_de703bfd17a6c39b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/180915.html","regions":["tomsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","282.2-2","secret-witness"],"title":"Seversk-Based Sergey Belousov Was Given a Three-Year Suspended Sentence for Attending Peaceful Worship Services of Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"The court concludes the interrogation of the declassified witness Sergey Vlasov, which lasted for 4 sessions.\nThe testimony of the witness diverges from the data given earlier, in connection with which the court hears the protocols of interrogations. The defense draws attention to the fact that the prosecutor does not read out the protocols in their entirety, skipping entire paragraphs.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shevchuk and Others in Saransk","date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/saransk/index.html#20220418","regions":["mordovia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On April 15, 2022, Anna Zakharova, judge of the Ussuriysk District Court of the Primorsky Territory, found Vitaliy Ilinykh guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and sentenced him to 2.5 years of suspended sentence for religious beliefs (text updated, previously reported on a suspended sentence of 2 years).\nAddressing the court with the last word, the believer noted: “During the investigation, they often hinted at me and even directly told me to change my religion. But it was my religion that made me who I am today. Thanks to Jehovah's Witnesses, I have quit smoking, drinking, using drugs, swearing, disrespecting people, and the list goes on. And now I need to change religion? This would mean betraying Jehovah God, in whom I believe and who showed me the meaning of life.”\nThe first search at the Ilinykh' and his wife's home took place in February, 2019, as part of a criminal case against his mother. In September 2019, investigator E. S. Marvanyuk opened a criminal case against the believer, charging him with organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and later mitigated the charge to participation in extremist activities (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). His home was searched again in October 2019. On the same day, Ilinykh was detained. After 3 days in the temporary detention facility, the court released the believer from custody, and the investigator Marvanyuk placed him under recognizance agreement.\nAfter 13 months of investigation, in November 2020, the case was submitted to Judge Tatyana Pavlenko for consideration at the Ussuriyskiy District Court of Primorye Territory. In March 2021, the Ilinykh case was transferred to another judge, Anna Zakharova. The accusation was based on the testimony of a secret witness, an anti-Jehovah's Witness woman who attended religious services to collect information. At the same time, during interrogation in court, she admitted that she had never heard threats from them against her, calls for violence, genocide or overthrow of state power. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 4 years of suspended sentence.\nVitaliy Ilinykh looked after his mother, Olga Opaleva, for some time, who also faced criminal prosecution for her faith. During the investigation, the elderly woman suffered a heart attack and a stroke. Due to restrictions imposed by the court, Vitaliy could not fully take care of her.\nThe verdict has not entered into force. The believer insists on his complete innocence and can appeal the verdict.\nOn February 3, 2022, the Ussuriyskiy District Court sentenced another believer, Sergey Melnikov, accused under the same article, to 3 years of suspended sentence.\nAs in other cases against believers, the essence of the charge is that the peaceful legal expression of faith is equated with extremist activity. At the same time, at court hearings, evidence is given only of citizens belonging to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, and not of inciting religious hatred by them.\nRussian and foreign human rights activists and politicians pay attention to this legal collision. So, on November 8, 2021, the public committee “Freedom of Conscience” stated: “The decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia should be implemented in judicial practice. The state must admit its mistake, and law enforcement agencies and courts must stop the repressions against Jehovah's Witnesses. The state should apologize to believers . . . The truth of the faith, the correctness of the translation and interpretation of the Bible, as well as the rootedness of the confession in the domestic tradition—all this should not be of interest to the state, which must observe neutrality in matters of religion . . . The definition of extremism in the law should be stated in such a way that under only actions that pose a real public danger—violence, propaganda of violence, calls for violence fell under it”.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-15T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/180908/image_hu_869a9850697a1b5b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/180908/image_hu_43623c07dfdd0972.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/180908/image_hu_14733afdfb34b590.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/180908/image_hu_1f38b0d45468c65f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/180908.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","282.2-2","secret-witness","families"],"title":"An Ussuriysk Court Sentenced 47-Year-Old Vitaliy Ilinykh to a Two-and-a-Half Year Probation for Believing in Jehovah God","type":"news"},{"body":"The questioning of witnesses in the case continues. A neighbor of the Shayapovs says she has nothing bad to say about their family.\nA secret witness \"Makarov\" is being interrogated. She claims that Victor was a member of a local religious organization and that he himself told her about it, but this is not true. At the same time, she confirms that it is not necessary to be a member of a legal entity of the church in order to attend it.\nThe third witness being questioned says that he does not know Shayapov personally. He called the continuation of the activities of the banned organization the usual communion of believers, which was not stopped.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shayapov in Nikolsk","date":"2022-04-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nikolsk2/index.html#20220413","regions":["penza"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"It became known that on March 28, 2022 the judge of Khostinsky District Court of Sochi Konstantin Sidoruk found four of local Jehovah's Witnesses guilty of extremism. Two of them were sentenced to a penal colony, but they have already served their sentences in the pre-trial detention center. Another two were given suspended sentences by the court.\nThe court sentenced 49-year-old Tatyana Velizhanina to 1 year and 5 months in prison, 55-year-old Vladimir Deshko—to 1 year and 4 months, with a sentence to be served in a penal colony. The believers were not placed in custody as they have actually served their sentences—during the investigation and court hearings, Velizhanina and Deshko spent 11 and 10 months in the pre-trial detention center, respectively, after which they were placed under house arrest (one day spent in custody is equal to 1.5 days of imprisonment, and 2 days of house arrest—to one day in the penal colony).\nThe court sentenced 55-year-old Yuriy Loginskiy and 57-year-old Yuriy Moskalev to 2 years of suspended sentence without restriction of freedom with a probationary period of 2 years. Both believers have been released from house arrest.\nThe believers did not admit their guilt in extremism. The verdict has entered into force.\nIn the winter of 2021, the investigative department for the Khostinskiy district of Sochi of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against four believers under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code. They were arrested and imprisoned in the temporary detention center. Two days after the detention, Yuriy Loginskiy and Yuriy Moskalev were placed under house arrest, and Vladimir Deshko and Tatyana Velizhanina were placed in a pre-trial detention center. Subsequently, Vladimir and Tatyana were also placed under house arrest, they were deprived of the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families.\nOn February 21, 2022, after 11 months of investigation, the case was submitted to the Khostinskiy District Court of Sochi. The accusation was based on the testimony of a young man who feigned an interest in biblical teachings. During personal conversations, he collected information about believers and passed it on to the security forces.\nAs in other similar cases against Russian believers, over a month of court hearings, the court only proved that the defendants belonged to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Sochi residents were tried for the fact that they \"held on the territory of the city . . . meetings\", and also \"carried out preaching activities.\" Commenting on the situation, Yuriy Moskalev said: “When I was sitting in the cell, I understood that I was arrested not for some real crime, but for the Word of God, for the truth that I wanted to convey to another. But the mind did not accept this reality of the matter.\nYuriy Loginskiy during the persecution had to face \"arrest, strong emotional stress from his mother, the death of his mother-in-law.\" The repressions were a particularly painful blow for the Deshkos, as their son, Yevgeniy, was also convicted for his faith. And Tatyana Velizhanina’s emotional shock was compounded by a deterioration in her health (she suffered COVID-19 behind bars).\nIn the Krasnodar Territory, 24 Jehovah's Witnesses have already become victims of repression for their faith. Four of them are in penal colonies, and two have served their sentences.\nDespite numerous appeals by human rights activists and clarifications, the Plenum of the Supreme Court in Russia continues to groundlessly condemn believers for peaceful religious activity.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-12T09:39:43+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/120939/image_hu_2a5e2f95951f5f61.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/120939/image_hu_228548741bbe070f.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/120939/image_hu_f19d25cddeeabad8.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/120939/image_hu_f35b67368aea9852.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/120939.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-2","282.2-1.1","liberty-deprivation","suspended","secret-witness","families"],"title":"A Sochi Court Convicts Four Jehovah's Witnesses, Including a Woman","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 7, 2022, a panel of judges of the Tomsk Regional Court chaired by Andrey Kaplyuk commuted the sentence of Aleksey YErshov from Seversk. Instead of 3 years in prison, the 69-year-old Jehovah's Witness was given 3 years of suspended sentence. The verdict has entered into force.\nIn July 2020, employees of the Investigative Committee and the FSB broke into the homes of five families of Jehovah's Witnesses at the same time and searched their homes for several hours. As in the case of 5 other believers from Seversk, the accusation of extremism against Aleksey Yershov was based on the testimony of Kira Klisheva, who collaborated with the FSB, and pretended to be interested in the Bible.\nThroughout the investigation of the criminal case—almost 11 months—the believer was under house arrest. On January 19, 2022, immediately after the Severskiy City Court sentenced the pensioner to 3 years in prison, he was taken into custody, and he spent a month and a half in a pre-trial detention center awaiting an appeal.\nYershov still insists on his innocence. Now he can appeal the verdict in cassation.\nThe criminal prosecution of Russian Jehovah's Witnesses was condemned by the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the European Union and many other Russian and international organizations. The new clarifications of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia dated June 28, 2011 state that communal worship in itself does not constitute a crime under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which the security forces use as justification for the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-07T16:20:26+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/071620/image_hu_e0c39dc2162c5eb8.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/071620/image_hu_706fecead9e4c3b7.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/071620/image_hu_ab081b775f0812d7.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/071620/image_hu_f3521bdc573c4a8c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/071620.html","regions":["tomsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-2","elderly","secret-witness"],"title":"An Appeal Overturned Seversk-Based Aleksey Yershov's Initial Prison Term for Practicing One's Faith and Replaced It With a Three-Year Suspended Sentence","type":"news"},{"body":"A prosecution witness is questioned, and the testimony of witnesses who did not appear in court and of a woman who has already died is read out.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Kobeleva in Lesozavodsk","date":"2022-04-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesozavodsk2/index.html#20220405","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Only Sannikov's relatives gather outside the courthouse due to the fact that earlier court employees expressed dissatisfaction with the support group and threatened to call the police.\nA secret witness under the pseudonym \"Alexander Kamzolov\" is being interrogated. The defense repeatedly states that they know the real name of the witness and that he is an FSB officer who was infiltrated under the guise of a person interested in the Bible. In August 2020, he was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nThe court does not satisfy the request to conduct the interrogation of \"Kamzolov\" in the usual manner.\nThe witness reduces the answers to the questions of the defense to the phrase: \"Sannikov said that we continue the activities of a banned legal entity.\" Judge Marat Khaertdinov draws attention to the fact that the witness does not answer on the merits and is clearly trying to incriminate the defendant.\nAnswering the question of Konstantin Sannikov, the witness addresses him as \"you\" and does not hide his hostility to the defendant.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Sannikov in Kazan","date":"2022-04-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan2/index.html#20220404","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On April 4, 2022, the judge of the Abakan City Court, Yuriy Lotsky, sentenced Matrena Spiriadi and Aleksandr Vergunov to 2.5 years of suspended sentence. By its decision, the court equated the discussion of the Bible among friends with participation in the activities of an extremist organization.\nThe criminal case against the civilians of Khakassia—Aleksandr Vergunov, Matrena Spiriadi and Irina Sidorova—was initiated on April 20, 2020 by the investigative department for the city of Abakan of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia. Three months later, 44-year-old Irina Sidorova died in the hospital after two surgeries. Her minor child was left without a mother.\nA year after the initiation of the case, the senior detective of the CPE of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Khakassia, police major Artem Kononov, searched the homes of Vergunov and Spiriadi. The believers were under an obligation to appear promptly when summoned by an interrogating officer, investigator, or to court.\nAt the time of the initiation of the case, Aleksandr Vergunov was doing alternative civilian service in a medical center for newborns. The draft board took into account his beliefs that did not allow him to take up arms.\nMatrena Spiriadi grew up in a large family, she was the youngest of 11 children. Now the believer lives with a disabled grandson suffering from cerebral palsy, whom she continues to take care of, despite her own health problems: she suffers from hyperglycemia. Due to the nervous shock after the searches, the blood sugar level of an elderly woman rose to a critical level. In this regard, she constantly has to take many medications. The investigation did not consider the life situation of the elderly woman as a mitigating circumstance.\nThe Abakan City Court has been hearing the case since June 29, 2021. To prove the guilt of the believers, the prosecution brought in 42 witnesses, most of whom were not acquainted with the defendants and had a superficial understanding of Jehovah's Witnesses. One of the two secret witnesses under the pseudonym \"Nadezhda Petrova\" for some time made secret audio recordings of conversations with believers, providing information to law enforcement officers. Many witnesses were unable to recognize the defendants in the courtroom, while others were confused in their testimony.\nThe line of accusation, as in many similar cases against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, was based only on proving the defendants' religious affiliation. Among the evidence are books “evidencing involvement in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” The file contains the conclusions of religious expert examinations of audio recordings of “meetings to glorify Jehovah and sermons on specific topics: ‘Do not give up, doing good!’, ‘Forgive your enemies,’ and others.” At the same time, no specific facts of the commission of unlawful actions by believers at the trial were provided.\nAleksandr Vergunov drew the court's attention to this in his final statement: \"All the evidence collected only shows that I was exercising my constitutional right to freedom of religion.\"\nSpeaking before the court with her last word, Matrena Spiriadi said: “As a believer, I profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is a peaceful Christian religion whose teachings are based solely on the Bible. I have been studying the Bible for a long time and it does not make me worse. On the contrary, this holy book helped me to break with bad habits in due time. I also learned from the Bible how to build relationships with people and keep peace with them.”\nAlthough there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believers to 5 years in a penal colony, but the court limited itself to a suspended sentence. Vergunov and Spiriadi insist on their complete innocence. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed.\nThe case against Aleksandr Vergunov and Matrena Spiriadi was separated from another high-profile case against believers in Abakan, Roman Baranovskiy and his mother Valentina . A 70-year-old believer and her son are sent to a colony for their faith in God.\nAccording to clarification of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the profession of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses cannot in itself be considered extremism. The world community expresses its concern about the unlawful use of anti-extremist legislation to organize religious repression.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-04T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/051433/image_hu_bf9a9b9e385f96a7.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/051433/image_hu_b8bc387a1d5d9c9b.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/051433/image_hu_f26b464c8154f903.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/051433/image_hu_3d0408fb716b5487.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/051433.html","regions":["khakassia"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","282.2-2","elderly","died","minors","secret-witness"],"title":"Matryona Spiriadi, 68, and Aleksandr Vergunov, 24, Based in Abakan, Were Each Handed a Two-and-a-Half-Year Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"The affidavit of the deceased prosecution witness shall be read.\nAt the request of the prosecutor, they begin to read out written evidence from the volumes of the case, including the protocol of the confrontation of the embedded FSB agent Vladislav Mrachko and Galina Kobeleva. The affidavit of the deceased prosecution witness shall be read.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Grinenko and Others in Lesozavodsk","date":"2022-04-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesozavodsk/index.html#20220402","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor approves the indictment.\nAs evidence of Zinaida Minenko's guilt, the investigation points to recordings of conversations and worship services made during operational-search activities.\nThe case involves at least two secret witnesses (\"Elena Romanova\", \"Pyotr Petrov\"), with whom the believer shared her knowledge of the Bible. Witnesses for the prosecution describe the believer as a calm, polite and cultured woman.\nAn examination carried out at the North Caucasus Federal University was also attached to the case. Experts conclude that the recordings of the ORM depict divine services and personal conversations about the Bible. At the same time, experts interpret these discussions as \"studying the basics of the religion of the LRO \"Jehovah's Witnesses\"\", thereby substituting legal and religious concepts.\nThe investigator does not consider either the believer's disability or her advanced age to be mitigating circumstances.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Minenko in Zheleznovodsk","date":"2022-03-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zheleznovodsk/index.html#20220329","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["studies-violations","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 18, 2022, the Volgograd Regional Court upheld the conviction of Valeriy Rogozin, Igor Egozaryan, Denis Peresunko and Sergey Melnik. They will get jailed for their faith in Jehovah God.\nIn September 2021, the court of first instance sentenced Rogozin to 6 years and 5 months in a penal colony, Peresunko to 6 years and 3 months, and Melnik and Egozaryan to 6 years in a penal colony. The verdict has entered into force, but believers can appeal it in cassation.\nWhen the criminal prosecution began, the wife of Denis Peresunko died of COVID-19, and the believer himself was placed in a pre-trial detention center for 5 months. He is on disability and the resulting stress has exacerbated his condition. A long stay in the pre-trial detention center also seriously undermined the health of Valeriy Rogozin. Egozaryan and Melnik are raising their underage sons.\nIn 2019, law enforcement officers arrested four believers and accused them of organizing extremist activities, and later two of them — Peresunko and Rogozin — also of financing it. At the same time, recordings of religious meetings of Volgograd Jehovah's Witnesses, at which they discuss Bibles, sing songs and pray to God, were used as material evidence of their “guilt.”\nIn court, the prosecution interrogated classified witnesses. One of them kept a covert record of worship and stated that the unlawful activities of the defendants consisted in the fact that they \"obey God.\" Another secret witness said that he had never heard threats, calls for violence or the overthrowing of power from the defendants. Some witnesses openly stated that their testimony had been falsified by the investigator.\nThe scheme, according to which Volgograd residents were convicted, is used by law enforcement agencies throughout Russia against peaceful believers. As in the Rogozin case, the indictments mention “propaganda of the cult of religious superiority of the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses” as evidence of extremism. However, human rights activists in Russia and abroad consider this approach to be erroneous and unconstitutional. In particular, back in 2017, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, a member of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights, noted with concern: “What believer does not consider his faith to be true? Jehovah's Witnesses is a church that has branches in many countries. They everywhere freely profess their faith and nowhere are they considered extremists. And we have Jehovah's Witnesses, as sincerely believing people, very exemplary citizens: hard-working, honestly treating their families, their children.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-03-18T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_6d28dbf2de06dac.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_db91ef1e7ce556ab.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_e5116b508ffc0d2d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_37f94eaf12c37cfe.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/03/210919.html","regions":["volgograd"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","liberty-deprivation","282.2-1","282.3-1","disability","minors","health-risk","fabrications","secret-witness","hidden-surveillance","elderly"],"title":"An Appeal in Volgograd Upholds the Sentence of Four Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"On March 15, 2022, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court overturned the conviction of Aleksandr Pryanikov, Venera, and Darya Dulova for being Jehovah's Witnesses. The believers have the right to rehabilitation. Earlier, the same court initiated a retrial of the believers' case.\nOn July 15, 2021, the Karpinsk City Court of the Sverdlovsk Region again found the believers guilty, giving them a suspended sentence of 1 to 2.5 years.\nVenera Dulova has hearing disability. Her youngest daughter Darya faced criminal prosecution when she was only 18. It became difficult for Aleksandr Pryanikov to provide for his family. During the criminal process, all three believers were under house arrest. In addition, they were included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring.\nIn June 2018, Venera Dulova and Aleksandr Pryanikov were detained for talking about the Bible, which the investigators considered participation in the activities of an extremist organization. A criminal case was initiated. Soon their homes were searched. A year later, Darya became the third defendant in the case.\nThe trial revealed the inconsistency of the allegations. Secret witness \"Osokina\" was unable to give examples of illegal actions on the part of the defendants. She stated that the believers did not cause any harm to either her or her property. Another witness stated that he identified one of the defendants by the color of her hair, but it turned out that the investigator showed him only black and white photographs.\nIn 2020, the Dulovs and Pryanikov became defendants in another criminal case for their faith. They were charged with more serious charges: Venera and Darya - recruitment, and Aleksandr also the organization of extremist activities and the involvement of minors in it. Among the accused were also Alexander's wife Anastasia, Svetlana Zalyaeva and her husband. It is noteworthy that Ruslan Zalyaev does not profess the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses, nevertheless he is suspected of \"participating in the activities of the Local Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Krasnoturinsk by [...] holding conversations in order to promote religious exclusivity.\"\nThe Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation clarified that worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint performance of rites and ceremonies, in themselves do not constitute a crime.\n","category":"victory","date":"2022-03-15T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/03/160903/image_hu_ed4b58f6827952e5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/03/160903/image_hu_ff7e8027879cab0f.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/03/160903/image_hu_6299b159a501700f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/03/160903/image_hu_7452c726c10e72da.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/03/160903.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","acquittal","282.2-2","secret-witness","families"],"title":"The Sverdlovsk Regional Court Overturned the Sentence of Three Karpinsk-Based Believers, Finding Them not Guilty of Extremism","type":"news"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Petrov\", who is in a separate room, is interrogated. The defense asks to declassify it due to the fact that the real name and surname of the witness (Sergey Vlasov) are indicated in the case file.\nThe judge satisfies the request of the defense, the interrogation of Sergey Vlasov continues in the courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Shevchuk and Others in Saransk","date":"2022-03-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/saransk/index.html#20220309","regions":["mordovia"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Believers receive an indictment. Valeriy Maletskov is accused of organizing an extremist organization, and Marina Chaplykina is accused of participating in it and financing it.\nMarina Chaplykina is charged, among other things, with the fact that she \"paid from personal funds to a representative of an individual entrepreneur ... monetary remuneration in the amount of 1500 rubles for the lease of non-residential premises ... to hold a solemn religious meeting with followers of the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses.\"\nThe accusation is based on recordings of conversations with believers made by a secret witness \"Ivan\", who attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses. Also in the case are the testimonies of the security forces who carried out the ORM: A. Abakumov, deputy head of the CPE department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Novosibirsk Region, S. Mezentsev, an employee of the Economic Security Department, and G. Lazarev, an operative of the FSB.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Maletskov and Chaplykina in Novosibirsk","date":"2022-02-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk2/index.html#20220221","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 10, 2022, Sergey Orlov, judge of the Kalininsky District Court of Cheboksary, found three local Jehovah's Witnesses guilty of extremism. Vladimir Dutkin was sentenced to a fine of 500,000 rubles, while Valeriy Yakovlev and Vladimir Chesnokov were fined 400,000 rubles.\nThe convicts have professed the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses since the early 1990s, but the authorities began persecuting them for their faith only in the fall of 2020, when the local FSB organized a wave of searches in Cheboksary and Novocheboksarsk. As indicated in the documents of the investigation, the believers “organized and held meetings of the religious group of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city of Cheboksary in specially rented premises” what the security forces considered the organization of the activities of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).\nFor six months, the prosecution presented evidence to the court not of any crimes, incitement of religious hatred or propaganda of superiority on the part of believers, but that Dutkin, Yakovlev and Chesnokov were discussing the Bible with others. It is noteworthy that the printed materials and audio recordings considered by the court contained calls on believers to avoid nationalism and anger and to show love for others.\nThere are no victims in this case, but there are inconsistencies and violations. So, the secret witness \"Ivanov\" testified about the events that took place long before the period imputed to the fault. Also in the case file was a psycholinguistic examination carried out by the FSB officer Komleva, although according to the law an independent specialist was supposed to prepare it. In it, she gave, among other things, a religious assessment of the activities of believers, although she does not have a religious education.\nThe prosecutor asked to send the believers to a colony for terms ranging from 6 to 6.5 years, but the court limited itself to fines. Convicts consider the verdict illegal and can appeal against it.\nDuring the criminal prosecution due to stress, the father of many children, Valeriy Yakovlev, worsened a chronic disease, pensioner Vladimir Chesnokov began to experience tachycardia attacks and shortness of breath at night. “One of the interrogations was particularly harsh and was accompanied by intimidation on the part of the investigator,” he said. Vladimir Dutkin, an insurance agent, was practically deprived of the opportunity to fully work and provide for his family, because the security forces confiscated all means of communication from him. The court also seized his car. Dutkin was under house arrest for more than a year, and Chesnokov and Yakovlev for more than 7 months.\nRussian authorities have repeatedly assured that the Jehovah's Witnesses faith is not banned. As the Russian Supreme Court Plenum explained on October 28, 2021, worship by Jehovah's Witnesses does not by itself constitute an \"extremist\" crime, despite the liquidation of their legal entities.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-02-10T09:48:21+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/02/110948/image_hu_eaf13e80264642d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/02/110948/image_hu_9ae317c28839beab.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/02/110948/image_hu_57d4c6c069a28589.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/02/110948/image_hu_d494130e665a9f58.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/02/110948.html","regions":["chuvashia"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","fine","282.2-1","secret-witness","elderly"],"title":"A Chuvashia Court Fined Three Witnesses of Jehovah for Talking About God","type":"news"},{"body":"The wives of the defendants are allowed into the courtroom.\nSergey Astapov, Doctor of Philosophy, Head of the Department of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies of the Institute of Philosophy and Socio-Political Sciences (Southern Federal University), is being interrogated. He explains that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation banned only the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, and their worship services are not prohibited. He characterizes the activities of adherents of this religion positively. He also confirms that citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to refuse blood transfusions, and that the creed of many religions contains the idea of their own exclusivity.\nAlexei Dyadkin petitioned for a meeting with his wife, but the judge refused. Natalia Batura refers to Article 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (Granting relatives a meeting with a convicted person), despite the fact that Dyadkin is in the status of a defendant.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Moiseyev and Others in Gukovo","date":"2022-01-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gukovo/index.html#20220128","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On January 17, 2022, the judge of the Pavlovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory, Andrey Mynochka, found Maksim Beltikov guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and sentenced him to two years in a penal colony. The believer was immediately taken into custody from the courtroom.\nThe Beltikovs have three underage sons, the youngest of whom was 3.5 years old at the time the criminal prosecution began. The believer also has an elderly mother. Due to prolonged stress, her chronic diseases worsened.\nBeltikov faced difficulties at the investigation stage. He, the breadwinner of the whole family, had trouble getting his salary from the bank because his accounts were blocked. The criminal prosecution also undermined his health.\nNevertheless, the believer noted: “During the criminal persecution, fellow believers invited us to lunch and dinner and tried to support us financially and morally. Also, about 15 people regularly came to the courthouse to support us despite the bad weather.” Shortly before the sentencing, he said: “I work at the same place. The employer even kept my salary on those days when I went to the investigator or to court hearings”.\nAddressing the court with the last word, Maksim Beltikov emphasized: “Of course, I would like to hope that the court will pass an acquittal, but if not, then my faith will not be shaken. I am convinced that a peaceful religion cannot be extremist and never will be. I love all people regardless of their social status and faith.”\nMaksim Beltikov came to the attention of the special services at the end of April 2020, when the FSB, together with the Cossacks, raided Jehovah's Witnesses from two villages. Two months later, on June 23, 2020, a criminal case was initiated against the believer. It was initiated by the investigator of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory M. Loy. It took the police about six months to complete the investigation. It was submitted to the Pavlovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory in January 2021.\nThe charges were based on audio recordings of conversations about the Bible between Beltikov and the secret agent Ilchenko (who is also a key witness for the prosecution in the case of Lyudmila Shchekoldina, which is being heard in the same court). During the hearings, it turned out that the negative remarks about adherents of other religions, which were attributed to Beltikov, actually belong to Ilchenko. He was twice forced to admit this during interrogations in court.\nIn addition, the phonoscopic examination, which was carried out as part of the investigation, was carried out in bad faith. During interrogation in court, the religious scholar and psychologist admitted that they did it on the basis of not an audio recording, but a transcript provided by them, which was distorted. Despite the obvious violations, the court repeatedly denied the defense the appointment of a repeated comprehensive phonoscopic examination.\nAlthough there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 3 years in prison in a penal colony. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. Beltikov insists on his complete innocence.\nOn October 28, 2021, shortly before the sentencing of Maksim Beltikov, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint performance of rites and ceremonies, in themselves do not constitute a crime under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, despite the liquidation of their legal entities. During the meeting of the Plenum, the judge-rapporteur Yelena Peisikova separately noted that new clarifications appeared in pursuance of the instructions of the President of Russia.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-01-17T16:24:16+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/01/171624/image_hu_d7eea271fd807197.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/01/171624/image_hu_d46fd2e029ca2b01.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/01/171624/image_hu_c8035547bbfbff18.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/01/171624/image_hu_a1ed2e72f6d34147.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/01/171624.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["minors","liberty-deprivation","sentence","rosfinmonitoring","final-statement","secret-witness","282.2-2"],"title":"Court Sentenced Maksim Beltikov, a Father of a Large Family from the Village of Pavlovskaya, to a Two-Year Prison Sentence for Discussing the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"Hearings continue in the Gukovsky District Court. A married couple is being questioned as witnesses for the prosecution. They inform the court that they have previously attended worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses. Those present sang songs, prayed, meetings were exclusively religious in nature. At worship services, there were never calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order, violence or hostility on religious grounds, but, on the contrary, were encouraged to show respect for people.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Moiseyev and Others in Gukovo","date":"2021-12-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gukovo/index.html#20211224","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 21, 2021, the judge of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of the city of Krasnoyarsk, Svetlana Patsalyuk, found the father of many children Vitaliy Sukhov guilty of organizing the activities of the extremist community and sentenced him to 6 years of suspended imprisonment.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence.\nAlthough there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 6 years in prison.\nIn his last word in court, Sukhov emphasized: “I want to assure the court of my innocence before the law, before people and before God ... I never had a desire to harm people, neither by action nor by inaction. I love my country, our city, and everyone who comes in contact with me knows this. The fact that I now stand before the court proves that I am ready to make sacrifices for the welfare and interests of the citizens of my homeland. I can’t help but tell others what I know and what can benefit them. ”\nOn May 8, 2020, the senior investigator of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia, Lieutenant P. Filishkan opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation against Vitaliy Sukhov, father of eight children. Two weeks later, the security forces searched his apartment. On that day, the believer learned that he was suspected of \"organizing religious performances and services.\" Later, the court seized Sukhov's car, depriving him of the right to use his property. This measure was taken in order to recover it from the cost of the car in the event of a penalty in the form of a fine. Investigator Filishkan investigated the case for about 11 months. On March 25, 2021, the case was submitted to the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Krasnoyarsk.\nThe criminal case involved the testimony of a secret witness \"Kuzmin,\" who attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses in 2017-18. In court, he argued that these were allegedly meetings of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses \"Krasnoyarsk.\" However, he said that he had not read the charter of this organization and did not know who was a member of it.\nTwo other witnesses for the prosecution said that they had no complaints against Sukhov, he did not agitate them to join any organization, and that Jehovah's Witnesses were not considered extremists.\nA religious examination carried out in this criminal case confirmed that “participation in meetings and training events”, “preaching work, which consists in the purposeful dissemination of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses,” as well as “observance of theocratic order” are “forms of expression of faith.”\nAt one of the court sessions, Vitaliy Sukhov drew attention to the fact that the investigator did not indicate the essence of the charge, the place and time of the crime, its methods, motives, goals, consequences and other circumstances. In this connection, he concluded: “Since these provisions have not been observed, the prosecution does not meet the requirements of Art. 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, therefore, the criminal case must be returned to the prosecutor.\" However, the court did not satisfy this request.\nIn the Krasnoyarsk Territory, 18 Jehovah's Witnesses are already accused of crimes against society and the state, although they did not commit anything illegal. Three of them have already been convicted for their faith.\nAccording to the ruling of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 32, when considering a criminal case on a crime provided for in Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the court must take into account that religious associations “consisting exclusively in the exercise of their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint the confession of religion, the performance of divine services or other religious rites and ceremonies, in themselves, if they do not contain signs of extremism, do not constitute a crime.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-12-21T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/12/241448/image_hu_7b6b22b30889e394.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/12/241448/image_hu_6dc3fbdf91acccf5.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/12/241448/image_hu_ce8e642fd5ed49fb.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/12/241448/image_hu_ab2ab262662e2bf4.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/12/241448.html","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","282.2-1","secret-witness"],"title":"In Krasnoyarsk, Father of 8 Children, Vitaliy Sukhov, Given 6 Years of Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 6, 2021 the Rostov Regional Court examined the appeal of 69-year-old Vilen Avanessov and his son, Arsen, as well as 54-year-old Aleksandr Parkov. They are all residents of Rostov-on-Don. The panel of judges headed by Gennadiy Peschanov left the sentence of the first instance unchanged: Parkov and Arsen Avanesov were sentenced to 6.5 years of real imprisonment and Vilen Avanesov - to 6.\nThe verdict came into force. The men insist on their complete innocence. They have the right to appeal the decision in cassation and international instances.\nIn July 2021, the prosecutor requested 7 to 7.5 years in a general regime penal colony for the believers. Vladimir Khudaverdyan, a judge of the Leninskiy District Court, found the law-abiding citizens to be extremists, but slightly commuted the sentence. The believers have de-jure served more than half of their sentence, as they were in the pre-trial detention center for 2.5 years while the investigation and the trial were going on.\nIn the late 1980s, the Avanessovs were forced to flee to Russia because of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, there they suffered repressions because of their faith.\nArsen is worried about his retired parents who have poor state of health. In addition, his mother was left alone without proper support. The investigating authorities did not allow her to see either her husband or her son for more than a year. Aleksandr Parkov had immune system problems. His wife Galina, who in January 2021, was also found guilty under the \"extremist\" article, is very worried about her husband's health: \"The conditions in the detention center are not good, he often had stomach aches.\"\nOn May 22, 2019, officials of the Investigative Committee of Russia conducted mass searches in the homes of Rostov residents suspected of practicing the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses. On the same day, a criminal case was opened against Parkov, as well as father and son Avanesov for their religious beliefs alone. Immediately after the searches, the men were taken into pre-trial detention.\nThe charges against the believers were based on numerous falsifications. For example, at one hearing the court questioned a secret witness who had been instructed by the FSB to provoke Jehovah's Witnesses to criticize various denominations and the state. Two other witnesses claimed that their testimony was distorted. According to one of them, during the interrogation a whole paragraph of someone else's statements was attributed to her.\nThe believers repeatedly drew the court's attention to the fact that the religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses are not extremist activities, but a peaceful manifestation of faith. They also emphasized the peacefulness of their beliefs. \"In their relations both with the authorities and with other people, Jehovah's Witnesses try to be correct, not to respond to rudeness, but to take the example of the first Christians and Jesus Christ,\" said Arsen Avanesov at one of the court hearings.\nEarlier, convictions of six other Jehovah's Witnesses were confirmed in Rostov-on-Don because of their belief in God. They all received two to four years of suspended sentences.\nThe Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 28 October, 2021, brought attention to the inadmissibility of prosecuting Jehovah's Witnesses for their participation in peaceful meetings. According to its ruling, worship of Jehovah's Witnesses and their joint rites and ceremonies do not by themselves constitute a crime under the Article 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code, despite the liquidation and prohibition of their legal entities.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-12-06T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/12/071458/image_hu_8dd9f3abf4d10f5b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/12/071458/image_hu_daa4bcae0d7e2798.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/12/071458/image_hu_41dc7de5f54533a2.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/12/071458/image_hu_4bb656357f5e3180.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/12/071458.html","regions":["rostov"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","liberty-deprivation","families","elderly","fabrications","secret-witness"],"title":"Rostov Regional Court Approved Six to Six and Half Years in Prison for Three of Jehovah's Witnesses. They Have Already Served Half of Their Sentence in Pre-Trial Detention","type":"news"},{"body":"Three prosecution witnesses are being questioned.\nFSB officer I. A. Mikhailov talks about the operational activities carried out, during which the security forces gained access to telephone conversations and video calls of believers. The witness is confused in the testimony, distorts the facts, his words contradict the information that he provided earlier. Mikhailov cannot provide the court with evidence of the defendants' distribution of extremist literature and calls for extremist activity at worship services.\nThe next to be interrogated is an employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service P.P. Varderesyan. He claims that he repeatedly conducted preventive conversations with the defendant Oleg Shidlovsky. At the same time, the witness cannot recognize him in the courtroom. Shidlovsky himself informs the court that he does not know this man and that no conversations were held with him.\nAnother witness for the prosecution, a woman, says that she attended Jehovah's Witnesses services voluntarily and that she benefited from these meetings. At the services, believers sang songs, prayed, discussed biblical topics, there were no calls for disrespect for authority.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Moiseyev and Others in Gukovo","date":"2021-12-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gukovo/index.html#20211203","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of another secret witness who states that the defendant discussed the Bible with him. The witness is confused in the testimony and answers uncertainly, with long pauses. For example, when asked how he realized that in the dock was the same man who talked to him about the Bible, Ivanov says: \"I think it's him.\"\nThe lawyer notes discrepancies with the testimony in the record of the witness's interrogation. According to the affidavit, the conversation took place in October 2020, but the witness states before the court that they communicated in April 2021. The witness calls the defendant's phone number from memory, and later states that he never called Siyukhov and lost his number a month before the trial.\nAfter a series of questions to the witness, the lawyer notes: \"The testimony you give within 10 minutes differs by 180 degrees. Why is this happening?\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Siyukhov in Maykop","date":"2021-11-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/maykop/index.html#20211123","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Averyanov\" is being interrogated. He states that he was sitting in the same cell with Bochkarev and that he offered him \"to join the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.\" Then he asks several times to read out the testimony that he gave at the preliminary investigation, referring to the fact that he does not remember anything. At the end of the interrogation, Bochkarev declares that the testimony of the witness does not correspond to reality.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Bochkarevs and Obizhestvit in Kazan","date":"2021-11-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan/index.html#20211119","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witnesses \"Semenov\" and \"Osokina\" are being interrogated. The judge rejects the lawyer's request to declassify them.\n\"Semyonov\" tells how some man and woman came to him, talked about God, while adding that the believers behaved culturally, did not insult, did not threaten, did not express religious or social superiority. When asked by the lawyer whether he had previously testified in the present case under the pseudonym \"Ivanov\", the witness replied that he did not know him, despite the fact that their testimony completely coincided.\n\"Osokina\" in her testimony claims that she knows the Pryanikovs and attended services in 2012. When asked what was discussed at the services, the witness replies that she does not remember exactly, but the main topic was about God. She also confirms that she has not heard anything related to the overthrow of power, genocide and violence. On the contrary, they talked about respect and love for others.\n","caseTitle":"Second Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2021-11-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk2/index.html#20211118","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A witness under the pseudonym \"Markin\" is being interrogated. The court rejects the defense's request to declassify the witness, despite the fact that the defendant Pryanikov calls his exact name.\nThe Witness says that he attended services voluntarily, but stopped doing so almost immediately after the liquidation of the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses. He admits that in order to become Jehovah's Witness, \"you don't have to sign any documents.\"\n\"Markin\" confirms that at divine services believers read and study the Bible, learn to show love, sympathy and kindness to others. He also says that he has not heard from the defendants calls for the overthrow of the government or the constitutional order, and that it is not typical for Jehovah's Witnesses to be violent, cause serious harm to health or property.\n","caseTitle":"Second Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2021-11-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk2/index.html#20211117","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On November 17, 2021, the judge of the Seversk City Court of the Tomsk Region Svetlana Chebotareva found Yelena Saveliyeva, a teacher with forty years of experience, guilty under the article on the activities of an extremist organization and sentenced her to four years of suspended sentence for talking about the Bible.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on her complete innocence. There are no victims in the case. The prosecutor asked the court to impose a fine of half a million rubles on the believer.\nYelena was born at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the first years of her life were spent in poverty, hunger and fear. She was raised by her grandmother and later returned to be raised by her mother and stepfather, who abused her. Yelena left home early to study and devoted her life to teaching. Currently, 80-year-old Yelena Saveliyeva is a widow. The criminal prosecution damaged the reputation of the peaceful pensioner and caused her a lot of grief.\nThe case against Yelena Saveliyeva was opened on March 25, 2021 by the investigator A. G. Kolpakov. It was investigated for about 3 months by the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Tomsk Region. The criminal case was based on testimony from two women who portrayed an interest in the Bible. FSB agent Kira Klisheva and Rosgvardia employee Yelena Studenova recorded conversations with an elderly woman on a dictaphone and a video camera, and transferred these recordings to law enforcement agencies.\nFrom the indictment in the case of Yelena Saveliyeva in the commission of a crime, it is clear that the criminal prosecution of an elderly believer is carried out only for religious reasons. Peaceful conversations with people about God are interpreted as \"persuading, recruiting and involving\" other persons in the activities of an organization banned in Russia.\nIn total, 7 criminal cases were initiated against Jehovah's Witnesses in the Tomsk Region. In 2020, the court sentenced one of them - Sergey Klimov - to 6 years in prison in a general regime colony only because of his faith in Jehovah God.\n“Innocuous believers are accused of 'grave crimes', but there are no victims in the case, nor any signs of real crimes against a person or the state,\"— Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, comments on the current situation in Russia.\nRussian and foreign leaders and organizations unanimously condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. This is how the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) comments on the situation in Russia: “All people, including Jehovah's Witnesses, should be able to peacefully and without discrimination enjoy freedom of religion and assembly, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Russia's international obligations, including Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. In light of this, we call on the authorities to drop charges against all detainees for exercising their rights to freedom of religion, expression and peaceful assembly, and to release them.”\nOn October 28, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the divine services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint rituals and ceremonies do not in themselves constitute a crime under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, despite the liquidation of their legal entities. During the meeting of the Plenary Session, Judge-Rapporteur Yelena Peysikova separately noted that new clarifications had appeared in pursuance of the instructions of the President of Russia.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-11-17T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/11/181626/image_hu_9d551818401fb7cc.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/11/181626/image_hu_ef4c860c16def438.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/11/181626/image_hu_472843080cad7567.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/11/181626/image_hu_fff83e0a257d7df6.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/11/181626.html","regions":["tomsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["suspended","sentence","elderly","282.2-1.1","secret-witness"],"title":"The Court in Seversk Sentenced the 80-Year-Old Widow Yelena Saveliyeva to Four Years of Suspended Sentence for Talking About Jehovah God","type":"news"},{"body":"The hearing is being held behind closed doors. Secret witnesses \"Ivanov\", \"Petrov\", \"Elizarova\" and \"Vorobyov\" are interrogated.\nJudge Vera Dranitsyna rejects the defense's motions to interrogate the witnesses in the usual manner, despite the fact that in their testimony they note that there were no threats to their lives, property, health and loved ones.\nIvanov is the first to perform. He says that the defendants did not call him to violence, genocide, crimes against the state, the breakdown of family relations, propaganda of the superiority of Jehovah's Witnesses over other religions.\nWitness \"Petrov\" is confused in concepts and considers all believers who profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses to be an organization, or a legal entity.\nDuring the interrogation, \"Elizarova\" expresses her personal dislike for Jehovah's Witnesses and admits that after she learned that Zalyayeva had become a Jehovah's Witness, she stopped communicating with her and her husband.\nThe next to be questioned is the witness \"Vorobyov\", a graduate of the Missionary Institute in Yekaterinburg. When answering questions, he expresses his negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses, calling them \"sectarians.\"\n","caseTitle":"Second Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2021-11-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk2/index.html#20211116","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Petrov I.S.\" is being interrogated. Yen Sen Lee confidently declares that this secret witness is Alexei Bessonov, who is familiar to him. In his testimony, the witness voices the untrue assumption that all those who profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are part of a legal entity (the Administrative Center and the LRO). At the same time, he recognizes the difference between a worship service and a meeting of representatives of a legal entity. At the same time, the witness voices the delusion that the Supreme Court forbade Jehovah's Witnesses to read the Bible, pray, sing religious songs, and talk about God and his commandments. Although the Russian authorities and the Plenum of the Supreme Court explained that Jehovah's Witnesses are not forbidden to practice their religion personally and jointly.\nDuring the interrogation, \"Petrov\" repeatedly takes long pauses to think about the answers. Once in the room where he is located, an extraneous voice is heard. The court does not answer the question of the defense whether the witness is alone in the room.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Baranov and Li in Vyazemskiy","date":"2021-11-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyazemskiy/index.html#20211115","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The interrogation of a witness under the pseudonym \"Shigapov\", who pretends to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses, continues. The defense draws attention to the fact that his testimony word for word coincides with the testimony of a certain Tajiyev from another criminal case against Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazan. Later, the court attaches the text of Tadzhiev's testimony to the case file for comparison.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Bochkarevs and Obizhestvit in Kazan","date":"2021-11-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan/index.html#20211109","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates a classified witness. According to his testimony, Siyukhov's organizational role boils down to announcing speakers at services, asking someone to set up equipment, buying SIM cards and saying how much money was raised to help fellow believers.\nThe lawyer draws the court's attention to the discrepancy in the testimony of the witness: during the investigation, he stated that he attended the services until about July 2019, and during the trial he states that he stopped attending them in April 2018.\nThe witness states that he can only characterize Siyukhov positively and admits that there were no extremist calls and actions on the part of the defendant. In addition, he explains to the court that LRO is a legal concept, but simply Jehovah's Witnesses is a religion.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Siyukhov in Maykop","date":"2021-10-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/maykop/index.html#20211029","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of a secret witness and neighbors of the defendants. The secret witness does not remember exactly when the meetings of the believers took place and what was discussed at them. Neighbors characterize the Krupnovs positively and add that they helped them with the housework.\nThe study of video recordings of worship services begins.\n","caseTitle":"The case of the Krupnovs and Others in Nikolsk","date":"2021-10-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nikolsk/index.html#20211027","regions":["penza"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Hearings on the merits of the case begin. The state prosecutor is E. Palagina.\nAfter the announcement of the charges, Kobelev, Grinenko and Efremova speak with an attitude towards him. Prosecution witness Vladislav Mrachko, an embedded FSB agent, is being interrogated.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Grinenko and Others in Lesozavodsk","date":"2021-10-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesozavodsk/index.html#20211020","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness \"Polonsky\" is being interrogated. Most of the witness's testimony relates to the time period up to April 20, 2017.\n\"Polonsky\" says that preaching is not forbidden in Russia. At the same time, the witness speaks negatively about the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and expresses his personal opinion about the reasons for the liquidation of their legal entities in Russia.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Omelchenko in Murmansk","date":"2021-10-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/murmansk/index.html#20211011","regions":["murmansk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness who had previously attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses is being interrogated. He says that he does not know the defendants personally, he heard about Alexander Polozov from others.\nDuring the interrogation, the prosecutor substitutes the concepts of \"organization\" and \"worship\": he states that the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is prohibited, whereas legal entities, not religious meetings, were banned.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Polozov and Shevelev in Norilsk","date":"2021-09-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/norilsk/index.html#20210921","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 9, 2021, the Amur Regional Court upheld the verdict of the first instance court. Jehovah's Witness Konstantin Moiseyenko was sentenced to 6 years of conditional sentence with a following probation period of 4 years and an additional restriction of liberty for 1 year.\nThe verdict entered into force. The believer still insists on his innocence. He has the right to appeal against the verdict in cassation procedure, as well as in international instances.\nOn July 14, 2021, the judge of the Zeyskiy District Court of the Amur Region, Alexandr Kozlov, found 45-year-old Konstantin Moiseyenko guilty of \"organizing the activities of a banned organization.\"\nThe accusation was based on the data provided by an embedded FSB agent: a woman, equipped with special equipment, took notes of liturgical meetings. In March 2019, searches were conducted in Zeya in at least five homes of Jehovah's Witnesses, including the Moiseyenko family. Laptops, telephones and personal records were confiscated from believers. Before the start of the trial, the believer spent about one and a half years under recognizance not to leave.\nKonstantin Moiseyenko is a systems engineer by profession, he is married. The court was presented with positive characteristics of the believer from relatives and neighbors, confirming his calm and peaceful disposition.\nTurning to the court of appeal, the believer drew attention to the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses are not a threat to society and the state. They live by biblical standards that \"teach people to be honest and respect authority.\" Konstantin Moiseyenko said: \"Instead of constructively cooperating with Jehovah's Witnesses, who are of great benefit to society, the prosecution violates my rights, thereby harming not only me, but the entire society.\"\nMoiseyenko, being a believer, just continued to adhere to his religious beliefs and discuss the Bible with his fellow believers. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia are not prohibited from practicing their religion. Prosecution witness senior FSB operative Nikolay Korendov, speaking in court, said: \"The gatherings of Jehovah's Witnesses are chants and Bible readings.\" He added that he had never heard from the defendant calls for the overthrow of state power, any violence or aggression against representatives of other religions or nationalities. He also confirmed that according to Russian law, the Bible, its content and quotations taken from this book cannot be considered extremist. Nevertheless, the court considered the peaceful believer to be dangerous to society.\nKonstantin Moiseyenko is already the second believer in Zeya to be convicted by the court. In 2021, the court sentenced 78-year-old Vasiliy Reznichenko to two years' suspended imprisonment. In September 2021, the Amur Regional Court upheld the harshest sentence handed down to Jehovah's Witness since 2017: 8 years in a general regime colony for 45-year-old Alexey Berchuk. Another criminal case initiated against Yevgeniy Bitusov and Leonid Druzhinin is under preliminary investigation.\nHuman rights activists in Russia and around the world condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in contemporary Russia. Vladimir Ryakhovskiy, a member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, says: “In our country, the right to religion, including joint one, is enshrined in the Constitution. The doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses in our country was not prohibited. It turns out that if the followers of some creed gather at home or online, then we are necessarily talking about participation in the activities of a banned organization? No\".\nIn May 2021, the association of former prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp (Lagergemeinschaft Dachau), in connection with the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, sent an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which concluded: “We urge you to grant every citizen of Russia the constitutional right to freely profess religion. Please put an end to this injustice! \"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-09-09T14:56:36+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/09/091456/image_hu_f1ce9ef251e2bcc4.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/09/091456/image_hu_7f94f78185faaccc.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/09/091456/image_hu_fc0dbabc72ee67b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/09/091456/image_hu_59595750ec9a3d4e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/09/091456.html","regions":["amur"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-1","secret-witness","families"],"title":"An Appeal in the Amur Region Upheld the Verdict on Believer Konstantin Moiseenko — 6 Years Probation for Convictions","type":"news"},{"body":"A secret witness \"Ivanov\" is being questioned in court. All of his testimonies relate to events that took place before 2011, while the believers are charged with religious activities carried out after April 2017.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Dutkin and Others in Cheboksary","date":"2021-09-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cheboksary/index.html#20210906","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["secret-witness","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates the secret witness \"Mikhailov\". Answering questions from the defense or the court, he refers to his own conclusions or to a source that he refuses to name.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Smelov in Kondopoga","date":"2021-08-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kondopoga/index.html#20210824","regions":["karelia"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates the secret witness \"Shigapov\". According to him, he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses until 2020, but he previously claimed that he attended services until 2016. The defense draws attention to this contradiction and asks to read out his written testimony. The questioning of the witness is postponed as he leaves the courthouse during the break.\nThe case file states that Leysan Bochkareva, on her own initiative, communicated on religious topics with two women. However, at the court hearing, one of them, E. Gafetdinova, says that she was asked to meet with Leysan and pretend to be interested in the Bible. The witness also mentions that it was on their instructions that she introduced the defendant to another woman.\nTatiana's son Obizhestvit, who does not share his mother's religious views, gives her a positive characterization and reports that despite their different views, they have close family relations.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of the Bochkarevs and Obizhestvit in Kazan","date":"2021-08-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kazan/index.html#20210809","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness is being interrogated. The lawyer asks whether he heard from Kabanov calls for incitement to religious discord, refusal of military service and medical care, whether he encouraged the severance of family and family ties, and whether he spoke disrespectfully about state bodies? The witness answers all questions in the negative.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kabanov in Zelenogorsk","date":"2021-08-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zelenogorsk/index.html#20210804","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness for the prosecution, \"Ivanov Vasily Sergeyevich\", is being questioned, who says that he does not know the defendant personally. About the services that Ostapenko is accused of organizing, he knows that \"people just gathered, sang songs.\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ostapenko in Sharypovo","date":"2021-06-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/sharypovo/index.html#20210603","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The interrogation of the secret witness is being prepared. Bailiffs and CPE officers block the corridor, blocking access to the courtroom so that no one can reveal the identity of the secret witness.\nThe defense objects and files a motion to disclose the identity of the witness. The basis for concealment can only be a real threat to life. The case file does not confirm the existence of any threats on the part of the defendants.\nThe court decides to question the witness without the possibility of visual observation, his voice is changed. By the way the witness formulates phrases, the defense has the impression that he is a law enforcement officer. A secret witness claims to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses himself. However, the literature he names has not been used by believers for more than four years.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Shchepin and Others in Kirov","date":"2021-05-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kirov2/index.html#20210525","regions":["kirov"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The secret witness of the prosecution \"Kuzmin\" is being interrogated. He states that he attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses from late 2017 to mid-2018. Kuzmin claims that these were meetings of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses \"Krasnoyarsk\", however, answering the defendant's question, states that he did not read the charter of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses \"Krasnoyarsk\" and does not know exactly who was a member of it.\nDuring the interrogation, the witness clearly answers the prosecutor's questions, but when the questions are asked by the accused, and then by his lawyer, he \"hears poorly.\"\nExplaining the motives of Jehovah's Witnesses when they talk to people about the Bible, Kuzmin says: \"The participants of the congregation believe that they should save as many people as possible.\"\n","caseTitle":"Sukhov's case in Krasnoyarsk","date":"2021-05-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnoyarsk6/index.html#20210524","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness \"Salov\", who repeatedly attended religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, made audio recordings and handed them over to law enforcement agencies, is being interrogated. The judge rejects the petition to declassify his identity.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Gorbunov in Krasnoyarsk","date":"2021-05-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnoyarsk5/index.html#20210521","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates a secret witness. Answering questions from the defense, he reports that he attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses. Although he and his relatives have not been threatened, he wants to be interrogated as a secret witness.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Karimov and Others in Naberezhnye Chelny","date":"2021-05-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/naberezhnyye-chelny/index.html#20210520","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Prosecution witness \"Ivanov\" is being questioned, whose voice has been changed. The prosecutor petitions for the disclosure of the witness's written testimony, seeing inconsistencies in Ivanov's answers. The judge grants the request.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Netreba and Others in Lipetsk","date":"2021-05-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lipetsk/index.html#20210514","regions":["lipetsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates a secret witness - a man who, on the instructions of FSB officers, conducted conversations with believers, trying to provoke them to criticize other creeds and the state. The provocateur was often the initiator of the meetings himself, but in court he claims that the meetings took place against his will. He hardly remembers his earlier testimony and says that he has a very negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses. At the same time, he admits that he has not heard any extremist appeals from them.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Avanesovs and Others in Rostov-on-Don","date":"2021-04-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/rostov-on-don7/index.html#20210426","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"An online interrogation of the secret witness \"Agafonov\" is underway. The defense's motion to disclose the identity of the witness was denied.\nThe Witness reports that he has been one of Jehovah's Witnesses for several years and talks about his understanding of the beliefs and lifestyle of the followers of this denomination, as well as what he disagrees with them. For example, he blames Jehovah's Witnesses for disapproving of divorce, not participating in hostilities, and not engaging in combat sports. The witness admits that none of the defendants threatened or used violence against him or any other believers. From the testimony of the witness \"Agafonov\" it becomes clear that he confuses legal terms and canonical concepts.\nAt the end of the interrogation, Konstantin Samsonov addresses the witness, calling him Lyudmila Mikhailovna. It becomes obvious that the defendants are familiar with the witness. Nevertheless, the prosecutor and the judge require the use of a pseudonym.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Samsonov and Others in Neftekumsk","date":"2021-04-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/neftekumsk/index.html#20210408","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A witness is being questioned who is a police officer at the administrative station where the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was located. He, like his colleague, informs the court that there have been no complaints of violation of order at the address of the worship building.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Samsonov and Others in Neftekumsk","date":"2021-04-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/neftekumsk/index.html#20210407","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Prosecution witness Kuznetsky speaks. He testifies from the next room, the door to which is ajar. Among other things, Kuznetsky says that \"by the timbre of his voice he determined the hierarchy in the organization.\" To the question of Yuri Krutyakov: \"What wrong have I done to you?\" the witness cannot answer anything.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Nikiforov and Others in Chekhov","date":"2021-03-31T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chekhov/index.html#20210331","regions":["moscow_obl"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Another secret witness \"Drozdov\" is summoned for interrogation. With minor omissions, he reads out a large excerpt from the case file. The court refuses to admit the written notes of the witness to the defense.\nFurther, FSB officer Belenkov is interrogated in court. He claims that after the decision of the Supreme Court of April 20, 2017, the activities of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia were recreated in the city of Pavlovo. For more detailed questions about when and how this happened, he cannot answer specifically: \"In the case file there are studies and examinations of specialists who can explain everything concretely.\" The intelligence officer also repeatedly confirms that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited.\nThe third witness, a woman, states that she signed only one page of the interrogation protocol, she sees all the others for the first time. She did not say the information contained there. She also says that she was pressured during the search and interrogation.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Vavilov and Oreshkov in Pavlovo","date":"2021-03-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pavlovo/index.html#20210325","regions":["nizhegorod"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The questioning of witnesses is ongoing. Five claim that the testimony allegedly belonging to them and read out during the trial is 80% inconsistent with what they said to the investigator earlier. Witnesses characterize the defendants positively. A secret witness \"Novikov\" is also being interrogated.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Vavilov and Oreshkov in Pavlovo","date":"2021-03-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pavlovo/index.html#20210318","regions":["nizhegorod"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness, a woman who attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses in order to gather information about believers, is being interrogated. She admits that she has a negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses and is interested in them ceasing their \"activities\" in Ussuriysk. At the same time, the woman never heard threats from believers against her, as well as calls for violence, genocide or overthrow of state power.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ilinych in Ussuriysk","date":"2021-03-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/ussuriysk/index.html#20210312","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The judge attaches to the case file certificates on the state of health of the mothers of Alexei Oreshkov and Alexander Vavilov, as well as state awards of the defendants, their characteristics from work and from neighbors, certificates for raising children.\n5 witnesses are interrogated and their testimonies are read out. Four of them state that they did not inform the investigator of the information specified in the protocol. Another witness states that he does not know the defendants at all. A secret witness \"Sergeev\" was also questioned, which the judge refused to declassify.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Vavilov and Oreshkov in Pavlovo","date":"2021-03-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pavlovo/index.html#20210311","regions":["nizhegorod"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The questioning of prosecution witnesses is ongoing.\nThe first to be interrogated in the secret room is the secret witness \"Ivan Petrov\".\nThe defendant requests the exclusion of his testimony, as it was taken in violation of the law, namely Part 5 of Article 278 and Part 9 of Article 166 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. According to these articles, the materials of the criminal case must be accompanied by an envelope with the true identity of the secret witness and the judge must open it before interrogation. But the envelope is not in the case file, there is no data about it in the indictment, the defense did not see it, and the judge did not open it in front of everyone. At the hearing, it turns out that the envelope has been found, and the secret witness is interrogated.\n\"Ivan Petrov\" gives a general description of the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses and talks about their beliefs, as well as how they conducted divine services. The defense draws the court's attention to the fact that \"Ivan Petrov\" is being interrogated not as a specialist, but as a witness, and cannot tell the court anything specific about the case.\nThe second to be interviewed is FSB officer Denisov. He informs the court that he does not know the defendant personally, but saw his name in documents seized during a search of another believer. The lawyer is trying to find out why the witness decided that Yakku is the organizer of the group, because in the documents opposite his name only \"No. 3\" is written and no explanation is given.\nThe last to be interrogated as a witness is the Orthodox priest Theodosius Nesterov. He has never met the defendant, but expresses the opinion that in the magazines published by Jehovah's Witnesses \"there is clearly a motive for inciting intolerance ... especially to Orthodoxy. Although it is not on all pages and encrypted. You have to read between the lines.\"\nThe next meeting will be held on February 26. It is planned to interrogate the linguist Sibirtseva.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Yakku in Arkhangelsk","date":"2021-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/arkhangelsk2/index.html#20210210","regions":["arkhangelsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court examines the testimony of the secret witness N. Ivanova, who for health reasons cannot attend the hearing.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Popov and Eremeev in Novosibirsk","date":"2021-01-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk/index.html#20210126","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of the secret witness \"Osokina\". Answering the questions of the defendants and the defense counsel, she cannot explain what exactly the Supreme Court banned in 2017, she cannot remember exactly how many times and when she attended the services of Jehovah's Witnesses, what topics were discussed there, and at what address they took place. According to her, the believers did not cause any harm to either her or her property. The witness cannot give examples of unlawful actions on the part of A. Pryanikov.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2021-01-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk/index.html#20210121","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court interrogates a secret witness \"Petrova\", who believes that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is prohibited. According to her, peaceful topics were considered at the services, and Pegasheva did not call anyone to illegal actions.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Pegasheva in Yoshkar-Ola","date":"2021-01-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yoshkar-ola/index.html#20210113","regions":["mari-el"],"tags":["secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Leninsky District Court is holding a hearing in the case of Galina Parkova. Investigator Mikhail Antipov, who, according to witnesses Andrey Okhrimchuk and his wife Ekaterina, falsified their testimony in the cases of other Jehovah's Witnesses accused of extremism, is being questioned as a witness.\nA secret witness \"Andrew\" is being interrogated. He says that he saw the defendant only 2 times and they talked on abstract topics not related to the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nDuring interrogation, Galina Parkova notes that she has nothing to do with the LRO of Jehovah's Witnesses in Rostov-on-Don, and denies using the banned publication.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Parkova in Rostov-on-Don","date":"2021-01-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/rostov-on-don5/index.html#20210112","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["punishment-request","first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A hearing is being held in the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don.\nThe testimony of a secret prosecution witness who never appeared at the hearing is being announced. The testimony of Semyon Baibak, who was declared as a witness for the prosecution, is not disclosed, since he used Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\nA witness for the defense, the founder and former member of the board of the liquidated LRO, says that Aliyev was never a member of the LRO. When asked about the reasons for the creation of this legal body, the witness replies that the main purpose was the construction of a worship building in Rostov-on-Don and the import of literature. According to the witness, after the liquidation of the LRO, he holds worship services at home with his wife and does not meet with fellow believers, fearing that because of him they may face criminal prosecution. Pointing to Alyyev, the witness explains: \"Even if people who are not associated with the LRO are tried, then what can the former founders expect?\"\n","caseTitle":"Case of Alyev in Rostov-on-Don","date":"2020-11-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/rostov-on-don6/index.html#20201127","regions":["rostov"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Judge Yekaterina Kashyna chose not to release the believer from pre-trial detention center despite the pandemic or the cassation court's decision on the illegality of his further detention. Court hearings include the testimony of an Orthodox sectologist. And because of a secret witness, the believer even filed a recusal against the judge.\nUpdate. On October 20, 2020, the Leninsky District Court of Novosibirsk extended the period of detention of Yuri Savelyev until January 22, 2021. Investigators accused Saveliev of organizing extremist activities. The believer insists on his innocence, stating that he just practiced his religion. How are the hearings in the Leninskiy District Court of Novosibirsk going?\nSecret witness and challenge to the judge. The main evidence against the believer is the testimony of the witness under the pseudonym \"Natalia Ivanova.\" Unsubstantiated secrecy of a prosecution witness in itself grossly violates Saveliev's right to a fair trial, as it deprives him of the opportunity to cite facts that would question the testimony of the anonymous witness. But worse: On September 16, 2020, Judge Kashina decided to accept and publicize the written testimony of the secret witness even without calling him to the court and allowing the believer to ask counter questions - though through a sound link with the change of the witness' voice. The defense filled a recusation against the Judge Kashina, but she rejected it. (Judge Kashina issued a private order to the prosecutor on abuse of procedural rights for failing to ensure the appearance of a secret witness in court).\nOrthodox anti-Cultist against a believer. On September 16, 2020, the court interrogated specialist Oleg Zaev, who spoke on behalf of the Anti-Cultist Center by proxy signed by Orthodox activist Aleksandr Dvorkin. The defense noted that at the time of his testimony to the investigator, Zaev, who had no special education, was a professor of sectology at the Novosibirsk St. Makariev's Orthodox Theological Institute (the Institute closed in 2019). The \"Specialist\" did not hide his Orthodox views; he had a negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses and considered them dangerous to the Orthodox country and the government.\nThe court's unwillingness to soften the preventive measure. On April 2020, Judge Kashina extended the detention of a 66-year-old believer in the courtroom in the absence of the audience due to the coronavirus epidemic. He tried to tell the judge that at the height of the pandemic, one of his cellmates was doing work in the pre-trial detention center that involved contact with large numbers of people. However, he does not wear a mask or gloves, which creates a high risk of infection. The judge was not touched by these arguments. Five months later, on September 9, 2020, the Eighth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction declared illegal the decision on prolongation of Yuri Saveliev's detention until April 22, 2020. On this basis, the believer again appealed to Judge Kashina for mitigation of the constraint measure, as she had every reason to do so. Unfortunately, the judge refused to transfer the believer at least to house arrest. Saveliev is still in custody, which was extended until 22 October 2020.\nWhat happens to Saveliev in the pre-trial detention center. The believer remains in a positive mood and does not complain about anything. It is known, however, that in June 2020, Saveliev faced short-term pressure from the administration of the pre-trial detention facility because of a religiously-motivated refusal to vote on amendments to the Constitution. Physically, he feels relatively well, maintains a healthy lifestyle, does gymnastics, sings, and draws. The lawyer who visited said that he smiles, jokes, feels supported by God, and sees many positive things happening to him behind bars. Saveliev reported that he was greatly supported by letters from believers and other sympathetic people. Incoming letters he carefully registers in notebooks. For June 2020 it has already received more than 7200 letters from 54 countries of the world. He is very grateful for such support.\n","category":"trial","date":"2020-10-16T13:35:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/10/8/image_hu_5578fdb4fdc9eda4.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/10/8/image_hu_3ca8e1a03ace9af3.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/10/8/image_hu_53f4427e17dc263a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/10/8/image_hu_93a51d68609bc5b8.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/10/8.html","regions":["novosibirsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sizo","elderly","secret-witness","health-risk"],"title":"700 days in detention. How the Novosibirsk court is deciding the fate of the 66-year-old believer Yuriy Savelyev","type":"news"},{"body":"The state prosecution again failed to ensure the appearance in court of an anonymous witness whose name, face and voice were unreasonably classified, which violates the believer's right to full defense. Judge Kashina issues a private ruling against the prosecutor in connection with the abuse of procedural rights and the delay in the consideration of the case. However, at the same time, the judge satisfies the request of the state prosecutor to read out the testimony of an anonymous witness from the case file. The defendant and his lawyer object, since the testimony of the secret witness \"Ivanova\", given at the preliminary investigation, is the main evidence of the prosecution, and Yuri Savelyev cannot even ask this witness any clarifying questions. All this grossly violates his right to a fair trial. The defense challenges Judge Ekaterina Kashina. The judge rejects the challenge and accepts the written testimony of the classified witness.\nAfter the break, the court interrogates the \"specialist\" Oleg Zaev via conference call. He speaks on behalf of the anti-cultist center by proxy signed by Alexander Dvorkin. The defense draws attention to the fact that Zaev does not have a special education, but at the same time he was a teacher of the discipline \"sectology\" at the Novosibirsk St. Makariev's Orthodox Theological Institute (the institute closed in 2019). The specialist does not hide the fact that he professes Orthodoxy, treats Jehovah's Witnesses deliberately negatively, considering them a priori dangerous for the Russian constitutional system and state power.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Savelyev in Novosibirsk","date":"2020-09-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/novosibirsk3/index.html#20200916","regions":["novosibirsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"About 10 people come to the courthouse, but no one is allowed inside due to the epidemiological situation.\nThe court interrogates a secret witness who kept a secret record of worship. He is in a separate room, his voice is changed. The witness claims that all the defendants are members of a local religious organization (LRO). But when asked whether he saw the names of the defendants in the list of members of the LRO, he replies that he does not remember. A secret witness considers it illegal activity of the defendants that they \"obey God.\" When asked whether the Supreme Court banned the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation, he replies that no.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2020-07-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20200714","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Due to the epidemiological situation, listeners are not allowed into the courtroom.\nThe prosecutor petitions for the interrogation of classified witnesses \"Petrov\" and \"Sergeev\". Earlier, the court dismissed the petition of the defense to declassify witnesses, as well as the opportunity to get acquainted with the data on the identity of classified witnesses. (The secrecy of witnesses significantly limits the right of believers to quality protection.) The court on the spot decides to examine witnesses without reading out their testimony.\n\"Petrov\" bases his testimony on assumptions and vague memories. He has not attended any services since 2018. He answers specific questions from the defense with the phrases \"I can't say for sure\", \"I don't know this\".\n\"Sergeev\" claims that he attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses until 2018, but cannot even remember what the room looked like and where he sat there. Sergeyev tries to present Jehovah's Witnesses in Ulyanovsk as members of the \"banned Watch Tower Society.\" However, Sergeyev cannot give clear answers and explanations on the issues of protection.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Zelenskiy and Others in Ulyanovsk","date":"2020-07-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/ulyanovsk/index.html#20200710","regions":["ulyanovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"At the hearing at about 4 o'clock, a secret witness under the pseudonym \"Klentsov\" is interrogated. (The participation of secret prosecution witnesses in the case significantly limits the believers' right to defend themselves.) When asked whether he had received threats from the defendants or from third parties, the witness gave a negative answer. This is puzzling as to why it was classified. He did not hear calls for violence and the overthrow of power from the defendants. Extremism, in his opinion, is disrespect for the state, but what exactly it is expressed, the witness does not explain.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2020-03-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20200313","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness under the pseudonym Ivan is brought to the trial.\nLawyer Alexander Obukhov files a petition for the disclosure of the true data of the witness, referring to the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, in which the secrecy of a witness is an exceptional security measure permissible only in case of a serious threat to his life and health. The judge decides not to disclose the identity of the witness during the interrogation. The witness testifies from another room, being behind a thick curtain, answers questions via audio communication, changing his real voice, calls himself either feminine or masculine. The court prohibits asking questions concerning his identity. The interrogation lasts three hours. During the interrogation, the witness accuses the defendants of \"spiritual terrorism.\" Counsel reminds that there is no such term.\nThe next hearing is scheduled for March 11, 2020.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2020-02-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20200227","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The state prosecutor asks the court to postpone the hearing, since for technical reasons it was not possible to deliver a classified prosecution witness. The judge agrees.\nThe next hearing is scheduled for February 27.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2020-02-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20200226","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vladimir Sudedan, Senior Investigator of the Investigative Department for Krasnoturyinsk of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, initiates criminal cases against Venera and Daria Dulov and Alexander Pryanikov under Part 1.1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It was he who had previously initiated the criminal prosecution of three believers, which eventually turned into a suspended sentence for them. The decisions to initiate criminal cases include secret witnesses, according to whom the believers allegedly involved them \"in the activities of a banned religious organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"Second Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2020-02-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk2/index.html#20200218","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["new-case","secret-witness","282.2-1.1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A woman is being interrogated who, pretending to be interested in the Bible, kept a record of conversations with Alevtina and passed information to FSB officers. The agent gives contradictory testimony, saying that she was \"disappointed\" in some of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, and at the same time would be ready to continue to communicate with them on religious topics.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Andreyev and Others in Kursk","date":"2020-02-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kursk/index.html#20200212","regions":["kursk"],"tags":["interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Interrogation of secret witness Smirnov. According to him, he communicated with Jehovah's Witnesses until April 2017. Polevodov demands that Smirnov be declassified, but the judge refuses. In his testimony, Smirnov states that he knows the defendants, but does not know whether they have any status in a religious organization. On April 21, 2018, the witness was present at the meeting in the café. Smirnov at first declares that the believers were conspiring, but it turns out that he went there completely freely, no one checked his identity. According to him, everyone present knew about the ban. How he knows this, he is not able to explain. Smirnov claims that both defendants used extremist literature at the meeting, but he does not know which one. The witness also finds it difficult to explain which statements by Polevodov and Kim should be understood as calls for extremism. On two occasions, he states that there were children at the meeting, although no children are seen in the video recording of the meeting made by the operational staff. Smirnov refuses to answer most of the questions, explaining that he does not want to reveal his identity.\nThe next hearing is scheduled for January 9, 2020.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Polevodov and Kim in Khabarovsk","date":"2019-12-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/khabarovsk/index.html#20191212","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court releases Dmitriy Barmakin from custody. He spent 447 days in jail. The prison sentence has been replaced by the prohibition of certain actions.\nAgent provocateur Petrova, recruited by the FSB to attend meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, is interrogated. Detective Gaifullin is present during the interrogation, stands behind the witness. The prosecution witness is tense and clearly biased against the believers. Nevertheless, Petrova testifies that Dmitry Barmakin never called for extremism. She did not receive any threats. The Supreme Court did not prohibit the Jehovah's Witnesses' creeds or their joint meetings.\nThe next meeting is scheduled for December 6, 2019.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Barmakin in Vladivostok","date":"2019-10-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vladivostok2/index.html#20191018","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["sizo","prohibition-of-actions","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defence counsel shall apply for the disqualification of the prosecutor and the return of the criminal case to the prosecutor's office. The court rejects both motions, but after them the judge and prosecutor begin to behave more respectfully towards the defendant and the lawyer. A secret witness is interrogated, who does not understand what it is about, does not remember anything and cannot report. In view of this, the judge simply reads out the record of his interrogation, and the secret witness confirms it. At the same time, the witness cannot answer the questions of the defense when he gave this testimony at least approximately (even a year).\nThe next meeting will be held on October 14.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Filatov in Dzhankoy","date":"2019-10-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/dzhankoy/index.html#20191003","regions":["crimea"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Prosecution witnesses are being questioned, including secret witness Dmitry Vasin (in reality: Yevgeny Denisovich Gomoyunov), as well as FSB operative Zadorin. A petition for the interrogation of a secret witness in accordance with the general procedure shall be filed. The court refuses, the witness is interrogated in a separate room with a changed voice.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Levchuk and Britvin in Beryozovsky","date":"2019-08-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/beryozovsky2/index.html#20190820","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A secret witness who claims to have attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses for 5 years is being questioned. He is in the next room and refuses to answer most of the questions of the lawyer and the prosecutor, citing the fact that he does not want to do so. According to the witness, Sergey Klimov is the leader of the local believers.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Klimov in Tomsk","date":"2019-07-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tomsk/index.html#20190726","regions":["tomsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","secret-witness"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court session is devoted to the announcement of the charges by the state prosecutor A. Uvarova. After that, the state prosecutor proposed to interrogate a secret witness who, in the opinion of the investigation, could tell about the continuation of V. Moskalenko's activities in an extremist organization. The witness testified that the concept of a local religious organization first appeared after April 21, 2017, this concept had never existed before and Jehovah's Witnesses were considered a worldwide religious organization.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Moskalenko in Khabarovsk","date":"2019-07-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/khabarovsk5/index.html#20190718","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","secret-witness","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"}]