Dennis Christensen's conviction upheld

The Oryol Regional Court upheld the verdict against Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen, convicted under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

On May 23, 2019, the Oryol Regional Court upheld the sentence handed down to Dennis Christensen under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). A Dane was sentenced to six years in prison with serving a sentence in a penal colony for leading the Oryol organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Christensen was arrested on May 25, 2017 and taken into custody the next day. During the entire investigation and trial, he was in a pre-trial detention center. his complaint about the choice of this preventive measure It was not possible to appeal the arrest in Russia; the ECHR communicated in November 2017. The consideration of the Christensen case in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Orel began only in April 2018 and ended with a verdict on February 6, 2019.

The court agreed with the position of the prosecution, which was that Christensen organized religious meetings and services, and also raised money for the functioning of a banned local religious organization and carried out preaching activities, coordinating his actions with the recognized extremist Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, and also involved in community of new members. The prosecutor in the court of first instance requested six and a half years of imprisonment for him in a penal colony.

guilty of participation in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) was found On April 1, 2019 , another Oryol Jehovah's Witness, Sergei Skrynnikov, . He was sentenced to a fine of 350 thousand rubles.

We consider the sentences handed down to both Christensen and Skrynnikov unlawful. The local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel was declared extremist in 2016, and the Russian Supreme Court upheld the decision of the regional court. However, we believe that the liquidation of organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses for extremism, the persecution of members of their communities and the banning of texts have no legal basis at all and are a manifestation of religious discrimination.

On June 11, it became known that Christensen was transferred to IK-3 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Kursk region (the city of Lgov).

Sources

• A higher court upheld the prison sentence for Dennis Christensen. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. May 23, 2019
• Dennis Christensen was transferred to the colony of Lgov (Kursk region). Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2019. June 11.