Dennis Christensen released from prison

The Jehovah's Witness spent five years in prison on charges of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.

On May 24, 2022, Dane Dennis Christensen was released from IK-3 in the Kursk region. In February 2019, Christensen was sentenced to six years in prison to be served in a general regime colony under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organizing the activities of an extremist organization) on charges of leading the Oryol community of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Upon his release, Christensen was immediately deported and arrived in Denmark the very next day.

Christensen has been in detention since the case was filed in May 2017. Since a day in a pre-trial detention center is equal to one and a half days in a general regime colony, he served half of the term back in 2019 and has since sought to replace the unserved term with a milder sentence.

In June 2020, the Lgovsky District Court of the Kursk Region decided that instead of serving the remaining term in the colony, Christensen could pay a fine of 400 thousand rubles, but on September 4, the Kursk Regional Court overturned this decision and sent Christensen's request for a new consideration. During the re-examination of the petition, Christensen was denied release from the colony due to the fact that, for health reasons, he could not work in prison production.

The local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel was declared extremist in 2016, and the Russian Supreme Court upheld the decision of the regional court. We believe that the decisions of the Russian courts to ban communities of Jehovah's Witnesses, which resulted in the mass persecution of believers under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds and are a manifestation of religious discrimination.

Sources

• Dennis Christensen released from prison. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. May 24, 2022
• Dennis Christensen released from prison and deported to Denmark. Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. May 26, 2022