KEMEROVO
JEHOVAH'S
WITNESS WITH DISABILITY GIVEN FOUR YEARS IN PRISON COLONY
A court
sentenced two
Jehovah's Witnesses in Kuzbass to four years in a prison colony
for participation
in the activity of an extremist organization. One of the
believers is an
invalid, second class.
The city
court of
Berezovsky issued a sentence to Jehovah's Witnesses (an
organization forbidden
in Russia) from Kemerovo oblast, Vladimir Levchuk and the
invalid second class
Sergei Britvin. They were sentenced to four years in a penal
colony of general
regime on the basis of part 2 of article 282.2 of the CC RF
(participation in
the activity of an extremist organization), the European
Association of Jehovah's
Witnesses told Taiga.info.
"They
had
already spent 520 days each in the SIZO and 250 days each under
house arrest.
Both believers have families. At the time of his arrest,
48-year-old Vadim
Levchuk's son was still a minor. Before the criminal
investigation, both worked
in mining enterprises. Levchuk worked in a mine and Britvin
drove a heavy
vehicle," the organization noted. "Their life changed
dramatically in
July 2018 when a wave of searches in home of believers came
through. During the
storming of the apartments, one of the women received bodily
injury from glass
fragments shattered by security forces. Two days later, the
Central district
court of Kemerovo placed Britvin and Levchuk in custody."
According
to
information of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Levchuk and Britvin are
suspected of
arranging the activity of an extremist organization because
"they
participated in worship services," Taiga.info wrote.
One
other believer
from Kemerovo oblast, Khasan Kogut, reported earlier about
F.S.B. pressure during
preliminary investigation. At hearings in Berezovsky city court,
he requested
that transcripts of interrogation by ruled inadmissible evidence
and also
described how he was interrogated in the Levchuk and Britvin
case without a
lawyer. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 September 2020)
6.5
YEARS IN PRISON
ASKED FOR KEMEROVO JEHOVAH'S WITNESS WITH CATEGORY 2
DISABILITY During
debates in the
Berezovsky city court of Kemerovo oblast, the prosecutor
requested 6.5 years in
a colony of general regime for two adherents of the
Jehovah's Witnesses, Sergei
Britvin and Vadim Levchuk. This was reported by the
organization itself. Levchuk
and category
2 invalid Britvin were arrested in July 2018 in a case
regarding participation
in the activity of an extremist organization (part 2,
article 282 CC). Britvin's
wife,
Natalia, described how security forces at first knocked at
the door of their
house and then began to smash class. Fragments fell on the
woman's arms and
forehead. The believer himself, the wife added, did not get
necessary
medications in the SIZO. The
organization
notes that Levchuk and Britvin are suspected of arranging
the activity of an
extremist organization, because they participated in worship
services. (tr. by
PDS, posted 2 September 2020)
Related articles:
Human
rights center publicizes case of Jehovah's Witness believer
August 18, 2020
Two
years of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kemerovo
July 26, 2019
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