Law enforcement officials have completed an investigation into a case of participation in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) against a Jehovah's Witness from Kovrov. This was reported by the press service of the Investigative Committee for the Vladimir Region.
The case materials were transferred to the court for consideration on the merits.
According to the security forces, the accused was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization in Kovrov since 2009, and after the ban in 2017, he continued to participate in it until August 2023. According to the investigation, the man with the status of a ministerial assistant participated in secret meetings and speeches of preachers.
The Investigative Committee does not name the defendant. It is likely that we are talking about Kovrov residents Alexander Popov, Mikhail Sveshnikov, or another defendant born in 1952. In August 2023, a case was opened against them for participating in an extremist organization and they were placed under house arrest. In December, Popov and Sveshnikov's preventive measure was changed to a ban on certain actions, the portal "Jehovah's Witnesses. Legal situation in Russia" reported.
- 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 of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint practice of religion, worship services 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).