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Four criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses being pursued in Rostov province

COURT IN "TRIAL OF THE 16" JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN TAGANROG EXAMINES TWO PROSECUTION WITNESSES

Kavkazkii Uzel, 15 April 2015

 

The court in the "Trial of the 16" Jehovah's Witnesses, accused of extremism, examined two prosecution witnesses yesterday, 14 April. Today, the session of the court in Taganrog will continue and will last each working day until 22 April.

 

As Kavkazskii Uzel reported, 16 members of the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Taganrog were accused of extremism, since, according to the account of the investigation, in 2011 they continued to conduct worship services and the study of literature ruled to be extremist, after a ban on the congregation by a Rostov provincial court in September 2009.

 

On 30 July, a Taganrog city court sentenced four of the defendants to a suspended prison sentence and they and another three members of the Jehovah's Witnesses were fined. However all the defendants were exempted from their payment in connection with the expiration of the statute of limitations. Another nine defendants were acquitted.

 

On 8 August, all 16 defendants in the case filed an appeal against the city court's sentence. On the same day, the prosecutor's office of Rostov province also appealed the sentence.

 

In March 2015, the Taganrog city court began a second consideration of the case. On 17 March, two prosecution witnesses were questioned in court. On 31 March, the court postponed the session until 14 April because of the illness of one of the lawyers.

 

One of the prosecution lawyers, Anton Omelchenko, told a Kavkazskii Uzel correspondent that on 14 April another two witnesses were questioned in court.

 

"One of the witnesses explained that he knows one of the defendants, Nikolai Trotsiuk (he was the president of the religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Taganrog what was liquidated by the court—Kavkazskii Uzel note). He knows only good about him, that he has a strong family, and that he conducted himself well at work. He stated that he does not know the other defendants. This same witness said that he had concluded a rental contract for the premises where the Jehovah's Witnesses conducted services in 2011. He did this of his free will and he did not coordinate this with anybody nor did anybody instruct him to do this," Anton Omelchenko explained.

 

Omelchenko added that this witness also is an adherent of the confession of Jehovah's Witnesses and he is a defendant in another criminal case involving five Taganrog Jehovah's Witnesses, but in that case the investigation is still going on.

 

The lawyer said that the second person questioned is the director of the company where the premises for worship services are located. "He explained that he concluded a rental contract for the premises with the witness who had been questioned previously. He also stated that the rental contract was concluded specifically for conducting worship services, and that they both were sure that nothing illegal was being done. On the contrary, they were sure that the law on freedom of conscience and religious associations was being observed," the lawyer declared, specifying that the director of the company was not himself a Jehovah's Witness.

 

The press service of the court told the Kavkazskii Uzel correspondent that they would not comment on the case. The prosecution also turned out to be unavailable for comment.

 

At the same time, the prosecutor's office reports that at the present time with respect to the Jehovah's Witnesses "three criminal cases have been opened and are being investigated, including in connection with inducing minors to commit crime on the basis of religious hatred. The criminal prosecution is being conducted with respect to 16 persons, four of whom are leaders of the named organization," the website of the prosecutor's office of Rostov province says. (tr. by PDS, posted 16 April 2015)


Background article:
Trial of 16 Jehovah's Witnesses drags on
April 1, 2015

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