In Primorye, the court refused to add the opinion of the UN Working Group to the materials of the case of Jehovah's Witnesses

The Partisan City Court of the Primorsky Territory refused to add to the materials of the case of Irina Buglak, accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The website “Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia” reports this.

According to the site, Irina Buglak’s defense petitioned to include in the case materials the decision of the United Nations (UN) Working Group on 18 Jehovah’s Witnesses who are being persecuted in Russia. The UN did not find grounds for prosecution in any case and recommended immediately closing criminal cases against believers (see also the original decision in English).

The judge, however, refused to include the document in the materials of the Buglak case.

• A criminal case was opened against Irina Buglak in April 2019. After a five-hour search, she was taken for questioning. The believer spent six months in a pre-trial detention center, then the measure of restraint was changed to house arrest, and then to a written undertaking not to leave.
• On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” as an extremist organization, liquidated it and banned its activities in Russia. In August, all Jehovah's Witnesses organizations were added to the list of prohibited organizations. 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, his complaint was accepted for consideration by the ECHR.
• In February 2019, the court handed down the first sentence in connection with the persecution of supporters of Jehovah's Witnesses with real imprisonment - Danish citizen Dennis Christensen was sentenced to six years in prison, his complaint was accepted for consideration by the ECHR. Believers Sergei Filatov from Dzhankoy and Sergei Klimov from the Tomsk region were also sentenced to six years in prison under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).