Taganrog: 17 Jehovah's Witnesses accused on extremism case

In the city of Taganrog, Rostov Region, seventeen members of the community of Jehovah's Witnesses have seen their charges on the criminal case of extremism; in particular, 14 of them were accused on May 31. Advocates complain that they were unfairly withdrawn by the investigator from defending the majority of the defendants.

Four out of the seventeen persons saw charges under Part 1, Article 282.2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of an extremist organization), and Part 4, Article 150, of the same Code (involving a minor in commission of a crime). The remaining defendants saw charges under Part 2, Article 282.2 (participation in the activities of the organization recognized by the court as extremist and banned), as one of the advocates of the Jehovah's Witnesses informed the "Caucasian Knot".

"On May 31, the team of investigators presented indictments to several believers; it was done in different rooms, where on duty advocates were invited for all the defendants. These events were unexpected. With no valid reasons, the investigator dismissed me and another lawyer from defending most of the believers, leaving only one defendant for each of us," said the lawyer and added that the defendants were forced to sign recognizance not to leave.

So far, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of the investigator on the information provided by the defendants' advocate.

The first out of the two cases, later combined into one proceeding, where part of the defendants are figurants, was opened on August 5, 2011, initially – against unidentified persons. On August 25, within that case, 19 houses of Jehovah's Witnesses living in and around Taganrog were searched. On February 10, 2012, Nikolai Trotsyuk, the former chairman of the religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Taganrog, was put under recognizance not to leave, which in fact made him the first suspect in the case. The same was done with two more believers on February 11, and another one – on February 17.

The second case – on participation in the activities of an organization recognized as extremism by the court – was initiated on February 4, 2012, in relation to particular individuals.

In these cases the prosecution relies on the decision of the Rostov Regional Court, which on September 11, 2009, ruled to recognize the religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Taganrog and several of its publications as extremist, to eliminate the community and to prohibit the religious activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Neklinov and Matveev-Kurgan Districts of the Rostov Region. The decision of the Rostov Regional Court was upheld in December 2009 by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; and on June 1, 2010, it was appealed against at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).