Federal Court of Sochi upholds decision on case of Pastor Kolyasnikov

The Federal Court of Sochi has upheld the decision of the magistrate court in the case of Alexei Kolyasnikov, the leader of a religious group "Community of Christians", who was found guilty of holding an unsanctioned meeting in a cafe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 10, at the request of the prosecutor's office, Kolyasnikov was fined for holding a meeting in a café, where they read the Bible.

The Court decided to uphold the fine of 30,000 roubles imposed on Kolyasnikov.

As stated by the witness for the prosecution, on September 28 she came to the cafe "Bel Canto" "for the first time." According to her story, it was "a shock that the cafe had no alcohol and tobacco products." She was told that "it was a Christian cafe." Arina Kondratenko told that Kolyasnikov was preaching about "good life."

The Pastor told the court that the above Kondratenko "had come to the religious group a few months ago expressed a desire to attend the services."

According to the advocate Alexander Popkov, the investigation revealed that law enforcers "had provoked an offense, and to confirm their actions they attracted two witnesses."

Pastor Alexander Kolyasnikov said that he disagreed with the court decision and intended to appeal against it.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.