In Birobidzhan, a court early cleared the criminal records of two Jehovah's Witnesses

On July 7, the Birobidzhansky District Court prematurely revoked the suspended sentence of Jehovah's Witness Yulia Kaganovich and cleared her criminal record. This was reported on a website covering the persecution of believers in Russia.

The court noted that Kaganovich served half of her probation without committing any violations during that time.

On February 16, 2021, Kaganovich was given a fine of 10 thousand rubles under the article on participation in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). A few months later, on May 13, the believer’s sentence was increased to two and a half years of suspended imprisonment with a restriction of freedom for a year.

18:30 On July 15, the Birobidzhansky District Court also cleared the criminal record of Jehovah's Witness Konstantin Guzev. This was reported on the website of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

In February 2021, the believer was sentenced to two and a half years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of two years. He was found guilty under the article on participation in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). On December 23, the cassation court overturned the verdict and returned the case to the appellate court. On March 14, 2022, the appellate court reaffirmed the verdict with minor changes.

The news headline was changed due to the appearance of information about the expungement of the criminal record of a second Jehovah's Witness.

• 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. All organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were included in the list of prohibited ones, after which a stream of criminal cases against believers began. Rosfinmonitoring has added hundreds of Russian followers of Jehovah's Witnesses to the list of extremists and terrorists. Most of the people on the list are believers between 40 and 60 years old.
• On June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights declared the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses organizations and the subsequent persecution of believers illegal. From the point of view of the ECHR, the decision to liquidate the organization and criminal cases against Jehovah’s Witnesses is based on an overly broad definition of “extremism”, which in Russian legislation “can be applied to absolutely peaceful forms of expression.”
• In October 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court clarified the application of “anti-extremist” legislation. The document, in particular, states that actions “consisting solely of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint professing of religion, performing divine services or other religious rites and ceremonies, do not in themselves constitute a crime , provided for in Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization - OVD-Info ).” According to OVD-Info lawyer Tatyana Glushkova, these changes allow courts to terminate criminal cases brought against former members of liquidated religious organizations (for example, Jehovah's Witnesses).