The court in Primorye returned the case of Jehovah's Witnesses to the prosecutor

The case of Jehovah's Witnesses from Partizansk, accused under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

On November 30, 2020, the Partizan City Court of Primorsky Krai returned to the prosecutor the case of two followers of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses: Irina Buglak and another local resident born in 1997, whose name we do not know. Both are charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization).

Buglak was arrested in April 2019, and in October 2019 she was transferred from the SIZO to house arrest. The second defendant was placed under house arrest in April 2019. They were accused of continuing the activities of the local community of Jehovah's Witnesses, i.e. in organizing the convening and holding of its meetings. Jehovah's Witnesses emphasized that this community was liquidated back in 2015 and thus was not recognized as extremist among other communities of Jehovah's Witnesses in 2017, respectively, there are no formal grounds for accusations of continuing the activities of an extremist organization in this case. The case went to court in January 2020.

In August 2020, a new criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization) in Partizansk was initiated against Jehovah's Witness Leah Maltseva.

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia are accused of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization, usually due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations were extremist. We believe that this decision, which entailed the mass persecution of believers in criminal proceedings, had no legal grounds, and we regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination.

Sources

• A court in the Primorsky Territory returned to the prosecutor a criminal case for faith against the mother of two children, Irina Buglak. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2020. December 4th.
• Case card No. 1-46/2020 // Website of the Partisan City Court of Primorsky Krai. 2020. December 4th.