Four Jehovah's Witnesses from Kursk were given real sentences ranging from 2 to 4.5 years

In Kursk, four Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced to actual terms ranging from two to four and a half years in prison. This was reported on a website dedicated to the persecution of believers.

The decision was made by the Industrial District Court on June 3. Thus, the judge found believer Andrei Andreev guilty under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), and Andrei Ryshkov, the spouses Alevtina and Artem Bagratyanov, Alexander Vospitanyuk - of participation in this organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 UK).

Andreev was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, Ryshkov - three years, Artem Bagratyan - two and a half years, Alevtina Bagratyan - two years in prison. Their co-religionist Vospitanyuk was sentenced to two years of probation.

A criminal case against Kursk Jehovah's Witnesses was opened in 2019 and was conducted by the local FSB department. After her arrest, Alevtina Bagratyan spent more than a year in a pre-trial detention center, after which the woman was transferred to house arrest. Her husband and Andreev remained in custody for more than a year and a half, and Ryshkov for more than a year.

Bagratyan suffers from diabetes and other chronic diseases; his condition requires inpatient treatment, which the management of pre-trial detention center No. 1 of Kursk denies him.

During the court hearings, it became known that a certain A. Grisko recorded conversations about faith with Alevtina Bagratyan and passed the information on to the intelligence service.

The website also indicates that several witnesses in court recanted their earlier testimony - they stated pressure from the investigation, as well as the appearance in the protocols of information that they did not report. Lawyers drew attention to falsifications in the case.

• In 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, all communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were added to the list of prohibited ones.
• 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.