Alexander Solovyov from Perm was sentenced to a fine for continuing the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization

A court in Perm sentenced Alexander Solovyov to a fine of 300 thousand rubles under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

On July 4, 2019, the Ordzhonikidzevsky District Court of Perm found Jehovah's Witness Alexander Solovyov guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2, Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and fined him 300,000 rubles.

Alexander Solovyov and his wife Anna were detained on May 22, 2018 at the railway station in Perm upon returning from a foreign trip, then a search was carried out in the Solovyovs' apartment, during which documents, photographs, electronic devices and information carriers, a collection of bibles were seized. On May 24, Solovyov was placed under house arrest with a ban on using the telephone and the Internet, as well as communicating with other defendants or witnesses in the case. On November 19, Solovyov's preventive measure was changed - only a ban on certain actions remained. The investigation was completed in early May 2019. The public prosecutor asked the court to sentence Solovyov to three and a half years in prison.

According to the investigation, with which the court agreed, from July 2017 to May 2018 Solovyov took part in the activities of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, knowing for certain that it was liquidated and recognized as extremist. He " participated in the implementation of the goals of the organization aimed at confessing and spreading the faith, including preaching in public places and residential premises, that is, he promoted the activities of the banned organization, directly participated in the events held by its other members," the press release of the Investigation Department of the ICR says . in the Perm region.

The file contained records of Solovyov's conversations with the followers of the doctrine, who intended to leave the community. So, on November 25, 2017, in his car, he talked with Flyagin and persuaded him to abandon the earlier decision, while, according to the investigation, using psychological methods of pressure and persuasion. He had a similar conversation with the Sherstobitovs in their apartment on December 14 and told them that if they refused the "true faith", they would be forbidden to communicate with their children, the investigation claimed. On December 17, Solovyov participated in a mass meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Chekhov Palace of Culture, follows from the case file. Conversations with witnesses were recorded as part of an operational experiment by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the defense, these witnesses were participants in operational activities.

Solovyov became the first in Russia to be convicted as extremist organizations recognized the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations recognized as its structural subdivisions. The decision to ban these organizations was made by the Russian Supreme Court in April 2017. In July of the same year, was rejected an appeal against this decision , after which, in August, the organizations were included in the list of extremist ones. We believe that this decision had no legal basis and regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination.

Earlier under Art. were convicted 282.2 of the Criminal Code, Dennis Christensen and Sergey Skrynnikov from Orel . However, their criminal prosecution was based on a separate decision to ban the Oryol organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, which was adopted back in 2016.

Sources

• Perm Jehovah's Witness fined 300,000 rubles // Mediazone. 2019. July 4.
• A resident of the regional center was convicted of participating in a religious association, in respect of which the court made a final decision to liquidate in connection with the implementation of extremist activities // Website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Perm Territory. 2019. July 4.
• Case card No. 1-274/2019 // Website of the Ordzhonikidzevsky District Court of Perm. 2019. July 4.
• Dmitry Astakhov, Daria Sokolova, Polina Yachmennikova. Witness became convicted // Kommersant. 2019. July 5.