JEHOVAH'S WITNESS IN SMOLENSK SENTENCED TO SUSPENDED SIX-YEARS FOR ORGANIZING HOUSE MEETINGS
by Maksim Zakharov
The Promyshlennyi district court of the city of Smolensk sentenced a resident of Smolensk to a 6-year-6-month suspended sentence; he tried to revive the activity of a regional division of the religious organization of the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia." Three companions joined him in the defendants' dock.
The activity of Jehovists in Smolensk was officially terminated after the Russian Ministry of Justice on 16 August 2018 included the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" in the list of religious organizations whose activity is forbidden in Russia. The Smolensk division was among the 395 member organizations of its structure.
However, four residents of Smolensk decided to revive the activity of the organization. The court established that all four were engaged in arranging meetings in members' apartments. They maintained communications among themselves through internet messengers.
The organizer of the group was sentenced by the Promyshlennyi district court to six years and six months in prison, suspended, with a probationary term of five years. The other members of the criminal group received suspended sentences of three to six years. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 April 2021)
TERMS IN PENAL COLONY UP TO NINE YEARS ASKED FOR THREE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FROM SMOLENSK
At a session in the Promyshlennyi district court of Smolensk, the prosecutor asked for sentences up to nine years in a penal colony for three Jehovah's Witnesses, Mediazona was told in the religious association.
The prosecution demanded to sentence 31-year-old Evgeny Deshko and 38-year-old Ruslan Korolev to nine years in a prison colony, and 43-year-old Valery Shalev, to eight years.
The news release said that the defendants spent from four to eight months in a SIZO and several more months under house arrest.
A fourth defendant in this case, Viktor Malkov, died before the start of the trial. "While in the SIZO and under house arrest, he was not able to get the necessary medicine, without which his weak health could not survive," the organization noted.
According to the account of the investigation, the believers "arranged the activity of a forbidden organization;" they prayed together and also read and discussed the Bible, the report adds. The investigation maintains that Shalev "showed video recordings . . . and informed devotees about matters of participating in congresses . . . and matters of organizing and conducting subsequent joint meetings."
In 2017 the Supreme Court ruled the Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization to be extremist and banned its activity on the territory of the country. Subsequently, more than 400 believers have been subjected to criminal prosecution. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 April 2021)
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