In Sochi, a court convicted four Jehovah's Witnesses

On March 28, the judge of the Khostinsky District Court of Sochi, Konstantin Sidoruk, convicted Jehovah's Witnesses Vladimir Deshko, Tatyana Velizhanina, Yuri Loginsky and Yuri Moskalev under articles on participation in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and involvement in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and involvement in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1.1 Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). The website “Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia” is about this.

reports The court sentenced Tatyana Velizhanina to 1 year and 5 months in a general regime colony, Vladimir Deshko - to 1 year and 4 months; The sentence was considered to have actually been served, taking into account the time spent in pre-trial detention center and under house arrest. The court sentenced Yuri Loginsky and Yuri Moskalev to 2 years of suspended sentence without restriction of freedom with a probationary period of 2 years.

The case against four Jehovah's Witnesses from Sochi was opened in March 2021. March 25 believers. Loginsky and Moskalev were given a preventive measure in the form of house arrest; The court sent Deshko and Velizhanina to a pre-trial detention center; they were transferred to house arrest only in 2022 and 2022, respectively.

detained February March According to investigators, being members of the banned Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Sochi, from December 2018 to March 2020, they promoted the activities of the association and “recruited a local resident to become a member of an extremist organization.”

• On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court liquidated the “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia. Later, all organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were added to the list of prohibited ones. After this, criminal cases began against representatives of the confession. admitted The SOVA Information and Analytical Center that the decision to recognize Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization had no legal basis, and regards it as a manifestation of religious discrimination. believes