The Court of Cassation sent the case of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Primorsky Territory for a new trial

On December 16, the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction returned the cases of seven Jehovah's Witnesses from Vladivostok for a new trial. This was reported by the SOVA Information and Analytical Center and the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia website .

The cases of Valentin Osadchuk, accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), as well as six elderly women - Nadezhda Anoikina, Lyubov Galaktionova, Elena Zayshchuk, Naili Kogai, Nina Purge and Raisa Usanova were sent to the court of first instance . They are charged with participation in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

The case against the believers began to be considered in October 2019, but was soon returned to the prosecutor’s office. The appellate court upheld this decision in January 2020. The prosecutor appealed it to the Court of Cassation.

• Since their arrest in April 2018, the women have been under recognizance not to leave. Osadchuk was placed in custody, he spent 275 days in a pre-trial detention center, but then he was transferred to house arrest.
• 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.