Two believers from Kuban have rejected charges of extremism

The court sentenced Viktor Spirichev and Sergei Dvurechensky, residents of the Kuban village, to suspended prison terms, finding them members of an extremist organization. Both Jehovah's Witnesses* denied the charges.

As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ," in November, a court sentenced 67-year-old Elena Gadrshina from the village of Vyselki to a suspended two-year prison sentence , finding her to be a member of an extremist organization. According to the indictment, she "participated in a discussion of the contents of religious books." The defense pointed out a number of violations committed by the investigation. In particular, the transcript of the secret witness's interrogation was identical, down to the errors, to a document from another case.

The Vyselkovsky District Court sentenced 45-year-old Viktor Spirichev and 50-year-old Sergei Dvurechensky, believers from the village of Vyselki, to two years' probation. They were accused of discussing the Bible with friends, and the court found both guilty under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (participation in an extremist organization), according to a website covering the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses* in Russia.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Viktor Spirichev in May 2023, a year after a search of his home. Due to the persecution, the Vyselki resident faced financial restrictions from Rosfinmonitoring and was under travel restrictions pending his sentencing, according to the publication.

Extremism is unacceptable to me. I believe that violence breeds even more injustice.

Spirichev denied the charges. "Extremism is unacceptable to me. I believe violence breeds even more injustice. The Bible teaches us not to respond to evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good," he said in court.

Sergei Dvurechensky also rejected the charge of extremism, which was based on the testimony of a secret witness under the pseudonym "Shepherd," who secretly recorded church services. "He never showed up for the hearing. He's doing his job for some reason, and it's not for me to judge. Overall, I have no anger or resentment toward him," Dvurechensky was quoted as saying.

The publication lists the case numbers for both cases. According to the case file on the district court's website, the verdicts for these cases were handed down on December 9 by Judges Ruslan Teplukhin and Elizaveta Proskuryakova. The names of the defendants and their defense attorneys are obscured.

00:51 23.01.2024

Are Jehovah's Witnesses* extremists or victims of lawlessness?

Hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses* in Russia, including in the south of the country, have felt the impact of the Supreme Court's decision to ban their organizations, facing criminal prosecution. More than a hundred believers have already received prison sentences. Investigators accuse the Jehovah's Witnesses* of attempting to continue the activities of the organization banned by the court, while the believers themselves consider their actions an exercise of their constitutional right to practice religion.

As a reminder, in October, the court also sentenced 53-year-old Jehovah's Witness* Elena Rumyantseva from the village of Vyselki to a two-year suspended sentence , deeming her a member of an extremist organization. Her daughter, 27-year-old Vasilina Penskaya, had previously been sentenced to the same sentence.

The criminal case against Rumyantseva and her daughter also rested on the testimony of a secret witness who made audio and video recordings of religious services. Several believers are implicated in his testimony. However, in court, he stated that he did not know Penskaya and could not confirm that she participated in the services. He also provided no specific information about Rumyantseva, other than that she attended the services.

Back in October 2021, the plenary session of the Russian Supreme Court ruled that individual or collective religious practice, religious rites, and ceremonies should not, in and of themselves, be considered the activity of an extremist organization unless they contain elements of extremism. However, in practice, state prosecutors ignore this ruling , noted Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Earlier, in October 2020, a court in Kabardino-Balkaria acquitted local Jehovah's Witness* Yuri Zalipaev, who was accused of inciting extremism. In September 2021, the court awarded him 500,000 rubles in compensation , and the prosecutor apologized to the believer for the criminal prosecution. Acquittals for Jehovah's Witnesses* are rare in the Russian judicial system, Yaroslav Sivulsky commented on the court's decision at the time.

On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia, following a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice, declared the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia* and its 395 branches extremist organizations, banning their activities. The "Caucasian Knot" covers the consequences of this ban on its dedicated page, " The Ministry of Justice vs. Jehovah's Witnesses *."

* 396 Russian organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses have been recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia have been banned by court order.

** The activities of Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.