In the Krasnodar Territory, a court sentenced a 67-year-old Jehovah's Witness

In Temryuk, Krasnodar Territory, a court issued a decision in the case of a 67-year-old Jehovah's Witness. The regional Investigative Committee is talking about this.

reports The department's website says that the man was sentenced under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist community) to two years probation with restriction of freedom for a period of six months.

According to investigators, from July 2020 to January 2021, the convict “gave lectures based on extremist literature” and also “participated in a collective discussion of the content of religious books and read them aloud to other people.”

• In 2017, the Supreme Court liquidated the “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia. All organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were included in the list of prohibited organizations, after which criminal cases began against believers. Rosfinmonitoring lists hundreds of Russian followers of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremists and terrorists. Most of the people on the list are believers between 40 and 60 years old. admitted introduced flow the - June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights banning the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses and the subsequent persecution of believers is 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.” recognized - In October 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court recognized 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 -).” 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). explained OVD-Info