SUMMARY OF HEARING IN CASE OF DANISH BELIEVER IN OREL
September 2018
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 23 October 2018
In September 2018, in the Zheleznodorozhny district court of the city of Orel, four judicial sessions were held in the case of Danish subject Dennis Christensen, who faces up to ten years incarceration (on the basis of part 1 of article 282.2 of the CC of RF) merely on the basis that he professes the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The case is being heard by Judge Aleksei Rudnev.
On 4 and 5 September 2018, the court examined materials discovered on electronic digital disks that were seized during searches in the home of Dennis and Irina Christensen and also from other Orel believers. Separate files (correspondence) were examined behind closed doors.
On 25 and 26 September 2018, the court continued to examine files discovered on computers and telephones seized from believers. The prosecutor called attention to materials dealing with religious themes: books in electronic formats, abstracts, and the like. On one of the disks a file was discovered with the text of a dialogue about faith during which a website that is included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials is mentioned. However, during study of the properties of this file it was established that it was created long before the period ascribed to Christensen, in 2013. Moreover, the file was found on a digital disk that was not Dennis Christensen's but another person's.
Subsequent sessions in this case are scheduled in the Zheleznodorozhny district court of Orel (45 Maxim Gorky St.) on 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, and 29-31 October 2018. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 October 2018)
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