The prosecutor requested six years in prison for a 68-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Kovrov

The prosecutor, during the debate in the Kovrov City Court, asked to sentence 68-year-old Jehovah's Witness Boris Simonenko to six years in a general regime colony. This is reported by a portal covering the persecution of believers of this denomination in Russia.

Simonenko is accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators , he organized meetings at which worship services and sermons were held by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Earlier, prosecution witnesses spoke in court: they all stated that they had never heard calls for violence from Symonenko.

The criminal prosecution of the man began in 2021 after massive searches in the houses of believers in the Vladimir region. After this, Simonenko was sent to a pre-trial detention center, where he spent almost five months. In July of the same year, the believer was transferred to house arrest, and in February 2022, a ban on certain actions was imposed .

Jehovah's Witnesses also report that Simonenko has health problems: “Boris has problems with vision and hearing, he suffered a pre-stroke condition, for which he underwent long-term treatment. Now the believer is forced to regularly take medications to maintain his health.”

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. Most of the people on the list are believers between 40 and 60 years old.
In 2022, 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.”

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The prosecutor requested six years in prison for a 68-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Kovrov

Earlier, prosecution witnesses spoke in court: they all stated that they had never heard calls for violence from Symonenko.

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. Most of the people on the list are believers between 40 and 60 years old.
In 2022, 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.”