In Astrakhan, the court sentenced Jehovah's Witnesses to long prison sentences

Four believers were found guilty of continuing the activities of the banned Astrakhan community.

On October 25, 2021, the Trusovsky District Court of Astrakhan issued a verdict in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses Evgeny Ivanov, Olga Ivanova, Ruslan Diarov and Sergey Klikunov.

Ivanov, Diarov and Klikunov were found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization) and Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code (financing of extremist activities) and sentenced to eight years in a penal colony with restriction of freedom for a year. Ivanova was found guilty under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization) and sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony with a three-year ban on activities related to the leadership and participation in the work of a public organization. Earlier, during the debate, the prosecutor asked to appoint Ivanov, Diarov and Klikunov eight and a half years in prison, and Ivanova - four years.

All men have been in jail since June 11, 2020. Olga Ivanova was then placed under house arrest.

According to the investigation, with which the court agreed, in the period from July 2017 to June 2020, the convicts continued to organize meetings of the banned community, “propagated the advantages of religious teachings over other persons and disseminated extremist literature,” in particular, through video conferencing. communications, and also collected money from members of the community "in order to finance the administrative center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia."

The accusation of Jehovah's Witnesses of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization is due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia decided to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist. We believe that this decision, which entailed the mass persecution of believers under the anti-extremist articles of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds, and we regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination.

Sources

• In the Astrakhan region, four local residents were found guilty of organizing, participating and financing an extremist organization // SU IC RF for the Astrakhan region. 2021. October 25.
• Case of Ivanov and others in Astrakhan. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2021. October 25.