The court in Krasnodar approved the real term of imprisonment for Jehovah's Witnesses

On October 6, the Krasnodar Regional Court confirmed the verdict of Jehovah's Witness from the village of Pavlovskaya, Lyudmila Shchekoldina. The portal “Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia” is about this.

reported that the believer was sentenced to four years and one month in a general regime colony. On May 23, the Pavlovsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory

sentenced Shchekoldina was found guilty under articles on participation and involvement in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 and Part 1.1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, the woman “committed deliberate actions aimed at involving <...> in the activities of an extremist organization <...> by describing the attractiveness of serving Jehovah.” The prosecutor sentenced her to four and a half years in prison.

requested The case against Shchekoldina was opened in April 2020. The accusation was based on a statement by a representative of the special services, whom the believer allegedly tried to recruit. The security officer himself secretly recorded conversations with local Jehovah's Witnesses on the topic of the Bible and faith.

In June, Shchekoldina said that in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Krasnodar she was placed in a cell designed for 12 beds, but at that time there were already 13 people there. Because of this, she slept on a mattress on the floor. “Lyudmila has a good relationship with her cellmates; she has the opportunity to read the Bible from the library. The believer receives so many letters of support that she does not have time to respond to them,” the message said.

told - In 2017, the Supreme Court “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” was an extremist organization, liquidated it 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. recognized that the flow - In June, the European Court of Human Rights banned the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses and the subsequent persecution of believers as 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