A new trial has begun in the Taganrog “Case of 16”

At the beginning of March 2015, a retrial of the "case of 16" began in Taganrog.

March 3, 2015 in Taganrog The city court began a new trial of the "case of 16" - 16 Jehovah's Witnesses found guilty under ss. 1 and 2 Art. 282.2 CC (organization of the activities of an extremist organization and participation in an extremist organizations, respectively) for the continuation of the activities of the Taganrog community Jehovah's Witnesses.

Yuri Baklushin, Alexander Skvortsov, Alexei Koptev and Nikolai Trotsyuk were charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 CC (organization of the activities of an extremist organization), Andrei Goncharov, Oksana Goncharova, Tatyana Kravchenko, Kirill Kravchenko, Vladislav Kruglikov, Sergei Trotsyuk, Roman Voloshchuk, Vladimir Moiseenko, Vyacheslav Shchekalev, Karen Minasyan, Kirill Chetverikov, Vladimir Kozhukhov - under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 CC (participation in an extremist organization). Defendants under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 was charged also part 4 of Art. 150 of the Criminal Code (involving a minor in committing crimes).

All defendants plead not guilty. Some of them were asked to drop the charges. under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, since the terms of attraction under it have expired, however, they refused to dismiss the case on non-rehabilitating grounds, insisting on acquittal.

Recall, according to the investigation, the defendants, "knowing" about banning the Taganrog community and "acting from extremist motives", resumed and continued the activities of the LROs of Jehovah's Witnesses "Taganrog", September 11, 2009 recognized as extremist Rostov Regional Court and liquidated, namely, prayer meetings were held congregations and studied religious texts. Taganrog community of Jehovah's Witnesses 11 September 2009 was recognized by the Rostov Regional Court as extremist and liquidated, from our point of view vision is wrong.

Sources

• Hearings on the resonant “Case of the 16” began in Taganrog // Communication from the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. 2015. March 10.