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The court of Seversk, Tomsk region, passed a sentence on one of the defendants in the Jehovah’s Witnesses case. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by a two-year restriction of freedom. The convict was also banned from working in educational institutions and distributing any educational information for five years. informs RF SC.
The department does not name the convict, but it is likely that he is a 50-year-old furniture maker Yevgeny Korotun, to whom the prosecutor’s office requested a seven-year prison term. He was found guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). During the investigation, the believer spent almost two months under house arrest and more than a year in a pre-trial detention center, writes “Mediazone”.
According to the investigators, from July 2018 to July 2020 in ZATO Seversk, Tomsk Region, “organized the activities of the local religious organization Jehovah’s Witnesses, knowing that its activities were banned in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.” “The activities of this organization were carried out by holding closed secret meetings, religious performances and worship services, distributing extremist literature, as well as organizing work to recruit and involve new participants from among the residents of the city of Seversk,” the press release of the RF IC says.
On January 19, the Seversky City Court of the Tomsk Region passed a sentence on 68-year-old engineer, teacher and former deputy Alexei Yershov, who also became a defendant in the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Judge Yalchin Badalov found the defendant guilty of participating in extremist activities and sentenced him to three years in a penal colony. Ershov was taken into custody in the courtroom.
The convict pleaded not guilty, stating in court that he had not committed anything extremist. He emphasized that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not resort to violence, “work conscientiously, pay taxes honestly, as a rule, have strong friendly families.”
Earlier, Memorial recognized Korotun and Yershov as political prisoners.
In the summer of 2020, Yershov, Korotun and other believers were searched in Seversk. A few months later, the local department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against them under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Ershov, in particular, was accused of extremism, as well as undermining the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the state, which was expressed in “active participation in meetings” at which believers discussed the Bible, says in a post on the Jehovah’s Witnesses website.
The accusation is based on the testimony of Kira Klisheva, who cooperates with counterintelligence. Since March 2020, she has been recording worship services from her home computer and transmitting this information to the FSB. Also records of divine services were made by an employee of the National Guard Elena Studenova.
When asked on what basis she determined that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were extremists, Klisheva answered in court: “Because they pronounce the name of God – Jehovah.” The charges against five more believers from Seversk are based on the same testimony of this witness.
In November 2021, the Seversky City Court sentenced 80-year-old teacher Yelena Savelyeva to 4 years of probation for talking about the Bible.
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