Dagestani Jehovah's Witnesses* treat verdict as their victory

In Dagestan, the Jehovah's Witnesses* sentenced to conditional imprisonment have decided to recall their appeals against the verdict. Under the current conditions, such sentence can be treated as a victory, said Suat Abdullaeva, the wife of one of the convicts.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in November 2022, a Makhachkala court sentenced Arsen Abdullaev, Marat Abdulgalimov and Anton Dergalev to 6.5 years each, and Maria Karpova to six years of conditional imprisonment under the article on the activities of an extremist organization.

All the four convicts filed appeals to the Dagestani Supreme Court (SC). They did not agree with the verdict and refused to plead guilty, said Arsen Abdullaev's wife.

"Both the case materials ... and witnesses failed to show what the "social danger" of the defendants' actions was, or how they "undermined the foundations of the state security" and "the foundations of the constitutional order" ... The judge considered that there was no need to imprison the peaceful, law-abiding believers to a correctional colony, and resorted to the conditional imprisonment," Suat Abdullaeva has explained.

She has added that "during the entire period of the criminal prosecution, fatigue accumulated; the convicts had no opportunity to take normal care of their families; and their health problems appeared."

"By our example, we've proved that, despite serious injustice and fictitious accusations of extremism, people can remain good believers," she has concluded.

Marina Dergaleva, the mother of another convict, said earlier that her son's criminal prosecution had affected her health. After his arrest, she was left without his support. Besides, due to such a measure of freedom restraint, he could not work.

*396 Russian organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses are recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia are banned by court’s decision.