In Krasnodar, a cassation hearing in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses was considered. One of them may have a harsher sentence

On June 23, the Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Krasnodar upheld the verdict of Jehovah's Witnesses Vilen Avanesov and Alexander Parkov. The case against Arsen Avanesov was returned to the appeal stage at the request of the prosecutor. This was reported on the website of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

On July 29, 2021, the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Vilen and Arsen Avanesov and Alexander Parkov. Vilen was sentenced to six years in prison, and his co-religionists - six and a half years. In December, all three had their sentences confirmed . The believers were found guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

At a meeting on June 23, the prosecutor said that he saw Arsen Avanesov’s payment for renting premises for worship as a crime under the article on financing an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code) and asked to review the verdict. Now the punishment for the believer can be toughened. The court had previously excluded this article from the case against him.

In January of this year, the Avanesovs were transferred to correctional colony No. 3 in Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk region). Parkov was taken to IK No. 10 in Rostov-on-Don at the end of December 2021.

The title has been changed. Earlier it was reported that the punishment could be tougher for Vilena Avanesova and Alexandra Parkova. In fact, the prosecutor asked to reconsider the case against Arsen Avanesov. His co-religionists left the sentence unchanged.

• In 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.