The state prosecutor asks to sentence Jehovah's Witnesses from Yalta to real terms

The prosecutor requested terms of seven and a half years for the Yalta residents charged under Art. 282.2 and 282.3 of the Criminal Code.

On January 30, 2023, the debate of the parties in the case of four Jehovah's Witnesses began in the Yalta City Court. The public prosecutor asked the court to impose a sentence of seven and a half years in prison on Sergei Lyulin, accused under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization), Petr Zhiltsov and Taras Kuzio, who are charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code and Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code (financing of extremist activities). The wife of the latter, Daria Kuzio, who was charged only under Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code, the prosecutor asked for a sentence of three and a half years in prison with a suspension of punishment until her youngest child reaches the age of 14 (now he is 8 years old).

Taras Kuzio was detained in March 2021 and placed under house arrest. accused At the end of July, Darya Kuzio and Zhiltsov also became , Darya was ordered not to leave, and Zhiltsov was placed under house arrest. Lyulin was detained in August while trying to cross the Russian border and arrested ; in March 2022, the court placed him under house arrest. In addition, at the stage of the preliminary investigation, Tadevos Manukyan was a suspect in the case, he was put on the wanted list. On July 11, 2022, the court changed the preventive measure for Taras Kuzio, Zhiltsov and Lyulin to prohibit certain actions. The case went to court in March 2022.

According to investigators, in 2015, five Yalta residents joined the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses and continued its activities after the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were recognized as extremist in 2017 and liquidated. They re-registered the land plot on which the Kingdom Hall was located “to a controlled person”, organized meetings and lectures in private houses, formed a “financial and economic base”, and collected donations, according to the UK.

The Supreme Court of Russia ruled to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist in April 2017. We believe that this decision, which entailed the mass persecution of believers under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds, and we regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination. In June 2022, the ECHR issued a ruling on the complaint of Jehovah's Witnesses, in which it recognized that the ban on their materials and organizations and the persecution of believers are contrary to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and demanded that criminal cases be dropped under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code against Jehovah's Witnesses and release imprisoned believers.

Sources

• Prosecutor Requests Severe Punishment for Believers... Message from Jehovah's Witnesses. 2023. January 30.