ONE AND
THE SAME
STORY. ON WHAT ARE CASES AGAINST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BUILT?
by
Mikhail Shubin
In June,
Gennady
Shpakovsky from Pskov was sentenced to 6.5 years in a penal
colony. He received
this term because he professes one of the Christian confessions;
he counts
himself one of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The punishment of 6.5
years was the
most severe for adherents of this religious denomination in
Russia, and
Shpakovsky himself was the eleventh Jehovah's Witness sentenced
to real time.
The criminal cases against these people are built on one and the
same principle.
Shpakovsky
is 61
years old. Since the early 2000s he worked as welder. He is
married and has a
daughter. The believer was found guilty on the basis of two
articles:
organizing the activity of a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
in Pskov (part
1 of article 282.2 of the CC—arranging the activity of an
extremist
organization) and financing this organization (part 1 of article
282.3 of the
CC). The operational work was conducted by personnel of the
F.S.B.
As
proof, the
prosecution presented to the court recordings of Shpakovsky's
prayers. The
investigation maintains that he, along with other believers,
conducted worship
services. It was this that was also interpreted as arranging the
activity of an
extremist organization. Besides this, a Bible in the New World
Translation,
which has been ruled to be extremist, was confiscated from
Shpakovsky.
During
one of the
sessions, the judge asked the defendant why he had not destroyed
copies of the
book. At another she claimed that the religion of Jehovah's
Witnesses is not
acceptable in Russian society and believers should leave for
someplace where it
is needed more.
Consideration
of the
Bible in the Jehovah's Witnesses' translation to be extremist
was criticized by
experts of the Sova Center for News and Analysis, which engages
in monitoring
the application of anti-extremist legislation. They declared
that this action
is illegal and is a manifestation of religious discrimination
done in
circumvention of the law.
Sova
criticized the
expert analysis of the Bible itself as an absurdity. "The main
goal which
guided the experts was to answer the questions posed by the
investigation
affirmatively." For example, M.V.D. experts claimed that the
translation
of the Bible contains a rationalization and justification of the
necessity of
overthrowing the constitutional structure, because Jehovah's
Witnesses believe
the depravity of the existing state of things, the approaching
end of the world
and victory of Jesus over the devil who took over the world, the
destruction of
all rulers and "evil people and demons," and the reign of Jesus
and
the start of a new world order.
The
M.V.D. experts
use the same argumentation in an affirmative answer to the
question of whether
this translation of the Bible contains calls for the violation
of the
territorial integrity.
The
extremism plan.
How the Jehovah's Witnesses were banned.
"In 2009
there
began an organized campaign: throughout the country there began
simultaneous
inspections of Jehovah's Witnesses, initiated by prosecutor's
offices. The
inspections were by the fire marshal (in premises of regional
organizations) up
to the prosecutor's offices themselves. It was obvious that the
office of the
prosecutor general was the initiator. Why did this happen? That
remains
unclear. And at the same time, in 2009, the first organization
was banned, in
Taganrog, and the first criminal case began. And this has all
lasted since
2009, sometimes more actively and sometimes more passively," the
director
of Sova, Alexander Verkhovsky, explains.
At that
time there
began widespread rulings that the literature and brochures of
Jehovah's
Witnesses are extremist. Numerous expert analyses and trials
were conducted,
which banned these materials on the basis of the fact that they
allegedly claim
religious superiority. According to Verkhovsky, all the
argumentation of the
experts was largely built on the fact that the literature
contains the wording:
"They will be saved and others will not be saved. Their religion
is
correct and the others' religion is incorrect."
He adds,
in
bewilderment, that the wording about the affirmation of
religious superiority,
on the basis of which the literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses
is forbidden,
seems strange: almost every religion maintains that they are
true and the others
are false or at least worse. The law on extremism itself speaks
about
maintaining the superiority or inferiority of people on the
basis of
nationality, race, language, and relationship to religion.
The next
step for the
security forces was a ban on local religious organizations of
Jehovah's
Witnesses in various regions of Russia. It was only on the basis
that they use
the literature that had been ruled to be extremist. Verkhovsky
said that the
very fact of its use is interpreted as extremist activity. In
cases where
literature was not found, it was planted.
On 20
April 2017, the
Supreme Court ruled the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's
Witnesses in
Russia" to be an extremist organization. In August of the same
year, 395
regional religious organizations in Russia were included in the
list of
organizations forbidden for extremism. This was the starting
point of a wave of
criminal cases against people who professed the religion of
Jehovah's
Witnesses. Throughout the country criminal cases were opened and
widespread
searches and arrests occurred.
"The ban
of 20
April 2017 itself was issued on rather formal bases. The court's
decision said
that organizations that were part of the structure of that
Administrative
Center were already banned to some extent. And in the opinion of
the court the
Administrative Center did not draw any conclusions from this.
They used the
forbidden literature. 'You see there were so many times when
they used
forbidden literature.' In this way the Administrative Center, as
a centralized
organization, allegedly continued to engage in extremist
activity, despite all
the measures taken earlier," Verkhovsky explains.
There
are more than
170,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. After the ruling that the
Administrative
Center was an extremist organization, they all could potentially
become
subjects of criminal cases for participation in an extremist
organization.
While the organization itself was banned essentially for
religious literature
that was ruled to be extremist.
As of
the time of
publication of this article, there are in Russia 379 persons
suspected or
accused of being followers of this religious confession,
explains a
representative of the European Association of Jehovah's
Witnesses, Yaroslav
Sivulsky. Those accused and convicted on these articles are
entered into the
list of the Rosfinmonitoring as extremists. Their bank accounts
are blocked. As
of February 2020, more than 200 Jehovah's Witnesses had been
entered there.
Wire-tapping.
Secret
witness. Literature.
Viktor
Zhenkov and
Artur Leontiev, lawyers of the St. Petersburg Advocates Chamber,
often act as defense
attorneys or consultants for the defense in cases against
Jehovah's Witnesses.
They explain that all cases against Jehovah's Witnesses are
opened on the basis
of the article concerning the organizing of an extremist
association and
participation in its activity (parts 1 and 2 of article 282.2 of
the CC).
Several believers also have been charged with financing an
extremist
organization (part 1 of article 282.3 of the CC) and recruiting
into an
extremist organization (part 1.1 of article 282.2 of the CC).
Cases against
representatives of the religious confession are followed up
operationally by
the F.S.B. or the "E" Center.
According
to the
lawyers, the prosecution in court must prove the fact of
continuing the
activity of the forbidden organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.
This is done
with the help of several basic means. It is necessary to take
into account that
the believers themselves in courts do not deny their affiliation
with the Jehovah's
Witnesses and they do not renounce their faith.
Wire-tapping.
Recordings
of telephone conversations of Jehovah's Witnesses with one
another or audio
recordings from residences figure in almost every criminal case,
attorney
Zhenkov explains. For the court, the fact that people visit one
another or call
on the telephone and in conversations, among other things,
discuss the Bible is
proof for the court of incrimination. In this way, friendly
meetings become a
continuation of the activity of an extremist organization.
Attorney
Zhenkov
explains that sometimes operatives turn off the internet in
Jehovah's
Witnesses' apartments. The latter call the provider, but instead
of the
employees of the internet company, disguised security agents
arrive, who
install listening devices in the apartment or various spy
programs in the
computers.
From
time to time,
operatives use outdoor observation or video cameras for
confirming instances of
believers' meetings with one another.
Secret
witnesses. It
is not so common a practice, according to the lawyers, but from
time to time
they figure in cases against Jehovah's Witnesses. In their
testimonies, these
people describe how "they talked about the Bible" with them or
they
confirm the fact of believers meeting with one another.
According to lawyer
Zhenkov, sometimes security agents use provocation and they seek
themselves a
contact with Jehovah's Witnesses and they try to discuss the
Bible with them,
in order afterward in court to declare that the believers tried
to recruit them.
Literature.
This
includes printed books and brochures as well as documents on a
computer. Often
in criminal cases, believers declare that forbidden materials
were planted on
them by operatives. Lawyer Leontiev explains that there are
cases where flash
drives with forbidden files are planted.
As to
instances of
financing "extremist activity," according to the lawyers, often
collections of money are made for rent of premises or for other
needs.
As in
many cases
based on extremism articles, sentences against Jehovah's
Witnesses are not
published on court websites. OVD-Info was able to find only one
sentence, in
the case of Sergei Klimov, while 26 persons have already been
convicted.
Verkhovsky
notes that
nowhere is it formally affixed that sentences on these articles
cannot be
published, but a strong tradition has been developed.
"Statistically
there
are very few of these sentences published. Why this is so in
fact is
understandable, because these sentences are iffy. Even if,
roughly speaking, a
person is convicted of something fully in accord with the
substance of the
article, everything would be okay. But since everything is
usually done in a
slip-shod way, then one can understand that people do not want
this published.
They want to insure themselves a bit in this way," Verkhovsky
thinks.
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/.