COURT
REPLACES REST OF
TERM WITH FINE FOR JEHOVAH'S WITNESS FROM DENMARK
The Lgov
district
court of Kursk oblast on Tuesday, 23 June, replaced the
remaining portion of
the six-year sentence of Danish citizen Dennis Christensen with
a fine of
400,000 rubles.
Christensen
was the
leader of the Orel congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. He was
arrested in May
2017, and in February 2019 he was found guilty of arranging the
activity of an
extremist movement and sentenced to six years in a penal colony
of general
regime.
Danish
authorities
had expressed "profound concern" with the sentence and urged
Russia
to observe freedom of religious confession.
In 2017
the Supreme
Court found Jehovah's Witnesses to be an extremist organization
and banned the
activity of the religious association in Russia. This led to the
fact that in
Russia criminal cases were instituted for dozens of believers
who were
adherents of the international religious organization of
Jehovah's Witnesses.
Danish
diplomats were
present at the hearing on 23 June in Lgov court. Besides them,
nobody else,
including the wife of the convict, was permitted into the
courthouse. Dennis
Christensen participated in the session by means of a video
link.
As of
the present
time, the convict has spent about 3 years and one month behind
bars. In light
of the fact that according to law one day in a SIZO is equated
with a day and a
half in a colony of general regime, Christenson had served more
than four years
of the term assigned by the court.
"From
the moment
of his arrest, Christensen conducted himself and is conducting
himself
respectfully and properly with regard to personnel of the
investigation, the
trial, the SIZO, and correctional colony No. 3. He independently
organized for
prisoners study without charge of the English language and he
maintains cordial
relations with other prisoners," Christensen's lawyer declared
in
explaining to the judge the basis for mitigation of the
believer's punishment.
A
representative of
the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, Yaroslav
Sivulsky, stated that
Judge Galina Petlitsa made a just and honorable decision.
Replacing
punishment
for the believer means for Christensen the possibility of
leaving for freedom
without any additional restrictions other than the requirement
to pay the fine,
Christensen's defense attorney reported.
At the
present time,
there are ten persons convicted for their Jehovah's Witnesses
convictions in
penal colonies of Russia and another 24 persons are imprisoned
in a SIZO. (tr.
by PDS, posted 23 June 2020)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.