Translated material
A trial began in Birobidzhan against four Jehovah's Witnesses on charges of being an extremist organization
Since November 30, the Birobidzhan District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region has been considering a criminal case against four Jehovah's Witnesses behind closed doors. They are accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and its financing (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code). This was reported on the website of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.
The case against believers Alam Aliyev, Dmitry Zagulin, Valery Kriger and Sergei Shulyarenko came to court on November 16. All four are under recognizance not to leave the place and proper behavior.
Aliyev is charged with organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), Zagulin is charged with financing it (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code), and Krieger and Shulyarenko are charged with both of these articles.
In May 2018, FSB officers conducted massive searches of Jehovah's Witnesses in Birobidzhan. According to one of the security officials, the operation was called “Judgment Day” and 150 law enforcement officers took part in it. During the searches, all electronic devices, even broken ones, bank cards, money, and photographs were confiscated. Aliyev was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center. After 8 days of appeal, he was released on his own recognizance.
In total, 19 criminal cases were opened against believers in the Jewish Autonomous Region. The defendants in the cases that were initiated over the course of two years, in addition to the mentioned Aliyev, Zagulin, Krieger and Shulyarenko, were: the spouses of the accusedNatalya Krieger and Tatyana Zagulina , Artur Lokhvitsky, his motherIrina and wife Anna Lokhvitsky , spousesKonstantin and Anastasia Guzev , Evgeniy Egorov, Igor Tsarev , Evgeny Golik, Larisa Artamonova, Svetlana Monis, Elena Reino-Chernyshova, Yulia Kaganovich, Anastasia Sycheva ,Tatyana Schollner, Andrey Gubin, Oleg Postnikov . They are charged with an article on participation in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, they committed deliberate actions related to the resumption and continuation of the activities of the banned local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Court hearings are also ongoing in the cases of Tsarev , Guzev and Lokhvitsky.
- 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. Later, all organizations 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.
- According to Federal Law No. 114-FZ “On Combating Extremist Activities”, extremism is a violent change in the constitutional order, violation of the territorial integrity of the state, justification of terrorism, propaganda of social inequality depending on various characteristics and discrimination, committing hate crimes, propaganda of Nazism, as well as calls for such activities and their preparation.