In Nizhny Novgorod, the case against Jehovah's Witnesses was re-entered into court

On July 14, the Avtozavodsky District Court of Nizhny Novgorod re-entered the case of Jehovah's Witness Gevorg Gevorkyan, who is accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the SOVA Information and Analytical Center.

Initially, Gevorkyan was a witness in the case of the other five believers. In November 2021, a criminal case was opened against the man, which was separated into separate proceedings. Already in December it was sent to the court, but in January 2022 it was returned to the prosecutor because new materials were added to it without notifying the defendant and the lawyer.

Gevorkyan is under recognizance not to leave.

• 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.
• 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).