On January 23, the Cherkessk City Court again found Jehovah's Witness Elena Menchikova guilty under "extremist" articles; the believer was sentenced to four and a half years probation. This was reported by the Jehovah's Witnesses portal.
Menchikova was also given a two-and-a-half-year probationary period. The prosecutor asked to sentence the believer to five years in a general regime penal colony and a year and one month of restricted freedom.
In December 2019, the local FSB department conducted searches at ten addresses of believers, including Menchikova, in Cherkessk. In the fall of 2020, a criminal case was opened against the woman for participating in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, the believer "sang songs" and "prayed to Jehovah God." The case materials also included postcards with the inscriptions "with love"; "we love you"; "Jehovah wants you to feel His love forever...". The woman was then forced to sign a written undertaking not to leave the country.
In November, Menchikova was searched again, during which security forces confiscated her daughter's drawings. That same month, the believer was charged. In March 2021, another article was added to the charges - about involving another local resident in the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses (Part 1.1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).
According to the investigation, Menchikova discussed the Bible with guests at home, which was considered active participation in the activities of an organization liquidated by a court decision. In response to a motion to dismiss the case, the investigator replied that "describing her actions, she [Menchikova] justifies them based on religious teachings and excerpts from the Holy Scriptures, which reveal the objective side of the illegal act she committed."
In December 2021, the Cherkessk City Court sentenced Menchikova to five years of suspended imprisonment; in February 2022, the Supreme Court of Karachay-Cherkessia upheld the sentence. In December 2022, the Fifth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Pyatigorsk overturned the sentence and sent the materials for a new trial.
Elena Menchikova is 58 years old and has a disability.
- 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 Jehovah's Witnesses organizations were added to the list of banned organizations, after which a stream of criminal cases against believers began. Rosfinmonitoring 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 aged 40 to 60.
- On June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights declared the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses organizations and the subsequent persecution of believers to be unlawful. From the ECHR's point of view, the decision to liquidate the organization and the 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."
- In October 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court clarified the application of the "anti-extremist" legislation. The document, in particular, states that actions "consisting solely in the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint practice of religion, worship or other religious rites and ceremonies, do not in themselves constitute a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of an extremist organization - OVD-Info )." 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).