During the debate in the Elista City Court on June 5, the prosecutor requested six years of suspended imprisonment for Jehovah's Witnesses Kishta Tutinova, three years for Tsagan Khalgaeva, and two years for Ekaterina Menkova. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" and noted by the research center "Sova".
Tutinova is charged under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), Khalgaeva and Menkova are charged with participating in it (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).
According to the investigation, Tutinova organized the continuation of the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses of the City of Elista no later than December 7, 2016 and until February 28, 2023, and was also their elder. The woman involved Khalgaeva and Menkova in the work. According to the prosecution, roles and functions were distributed between the latter, and Tutinova gave them instructions on preaching activities.
In addition, Tutinova was accused of systematically visiting the Jehovah's Witnesses website, which is blocked in Russia, and holding "secret meetings with secrecy measures," including worship services, religious education classes, discussions of preaching work, and viewing materials from the believers' portal.
On February 28, 2023, security forces conducted searches at Tutinova, Khalgaeva and Menkova, after which the first woman was charged under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization. On March 1, the court placed her under house arrest, but on July 21 of the same year, the measure was softened , imposing a ban on certain actions on the believer. On February 9, 2024, Tutinova was released on her own recognizance not to leave.
Khalgaeva and Menkova were initially witnesses in the Tutinova case, but on December 19, 2023, they were charged under the article on participation in an extremist organization. Both are under a written undertaking not to leave.
The case was received by the Elista City Court on February 29. Its consideration began on April 1.
- In 2017, the Supreme Court declared the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" 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 between the ages of 40 and 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).