A Jehovah's Witness in the Chelyabinsk region received a suspended sentence of six years in prison

On March 3, the Chelyabinsk Regional Court approved the sentence of Jehovah's Witness with Group I disability Andrei Perminov - six years of suspended imprisonment. This is reported by a portal covering the persecution of believers.

“Punishment is carried out for a specific purpose, namely, to correct the offender. I don't understand how exactly I should improve. During the trial, all that “came out” was that I am a Jehovah’s Witness. All my “guilt” was that I studied the Bible, sang songs, discussed biblical thoughts with friends and shared knowledge with people,” Perminov noted during the meeting.

In October 2022, the Ashinsky City Court in the Chelyabinsk Region sentenced Jehovah's Witness to six years of suspended imprisonment, finding him guilty under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

The investigation charged Perminov with holding religious services of local Jehovah's Witnesses and jointly discussing the Bible. During the hearing of the case in court, it turned out that a listening device was installed in the Perminov family’s apartment.

A criminal case was opened against Andrei Perminov in June 2021. Then searches were carried out in the houses of five families of believers - in addition to Perminov’s home, security forces also came to the houses of Andrei Fedorov and his father Vadim. In April 2022, the Investigative Committee opened a case against Vadim Fedorov, also under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

In total, 11 people in the Chelyabinsk region were persecuted due to participation in meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, notes a portal dedicated to the persecution of believers of this denomination.

• 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.
• In June, the European Court of Human Rights declared the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses 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.”