The cassation found the detention of Dagestani Jehovah's Witnesses in a pre-trial detention center unjustified

On March 4, the Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk declared illegal the extension of the period of detention of Dagestani Jehovah's Witnesses in a pre-trial detention center. This was reported on the website of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

Arsen Abdullaev, Maria Karpova, Anton Dergalev and Marat Abdulgalimov have been in custody since June 2019. They are accused under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

At a meeting on March 4, the defense appealed the unfounded extension of the arrest in October 2019.

The decision taken by the Court of Cassation does not mean the automatic cancellation of all subsequent extensions of the period of detention. However, this is an important precedent for further consideration of complaints about other extensions of arrest in the Supreme Court of Dagestan.

• At the last hearing, the listeners who came to the trial were given subpoenas for questioning as witnesses. The period of detention in the pre-trial detention center was extended until March 27.
• In April 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization and banned its activities throughout the country. In August of the same year, all communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were added to the list of prohibited ones.
• After this, a stream of criminal cases against representatives of the confession began. In February 2019, the court handed down its first sentence with real imprisonment - Danish citizen Dennis Christensen was sentenced to six years in prison.