PROSECUTION ASKS SEVEN
YEARS IN PENAL
COLONY FOR TOMSK JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
The prosecutor's office
requested seven
years in a penal colony for Tomsk Jehovah's Witness Sergei
Klimov. The
investigation considers him the "arranger of the activity of an
extremist
organization," based on evidence of a secret witness. The
defense insists
that the believers talked about God in private meetings.
The state prosecutor
Darina Kalinina
spoke in the debates in the case of the Tomsk follower of
Jehovah's Witnesses
Sergei Klimov. She asked that he be given seven years in a penal
colony of
general regime, the attorney Artur Leontiev told Taiga.info.
The prosecutor also
petitioned the court
that Klimov be prohibited from engaging in educational activity
and publishing
anything on the internet for eight years after serving his
sentence. For a year
and a half he will have to report to a penitentiary inspector
and not leave his
home at night.
Taiga.info has related in
detail the
story of the prosecution of Sergei Klimov and other Jehovah's
Witnesses in
Siberia. The Tomsk believer is accused on the basis of part 1 of
article 282 of
the Criminal Code (arranging the activity of a religious
association that has
been liquidated by a court because of conducting extremist
activity). The case
is being considered by Judge Dmitry Borisov of the October
district court of
Tomsk.
Klimov was arrested in
June 2018 in
Tomsk. According to the account of the investigation, he "was
the
effective director" of the local "Northern—Tomsk" organization,
one of the subdivisions of the Administrative Center of
Jehovah's Witnesses in
Russia, that was banned by the Supreme Court. Allegedly he
gathered believers
in the home of one of the members of the congregation and he
conducted services
there. The prosecution is based on testimony from a secret
witness, who refused
to answer most of the defense's questions in court.
The court refused a
petition of the
defense for declassifying the witness. Attorney Leontiev asked
to summon him by
a name known to the defense and the court agreed, but the
witness did not
appear at the session. The lawyer was refused a compulsory
appearance, he
clarified for Taiga.info.
Klimov's lawyer insists
that his client
was not among the founders of legal entities of Jehovah's
Witnesses, but his
meetings with believers bore a private character.
"Klimov is prepared to
endure any
sentence. He understands that real time is quite possible,
considering that he
has already been in custody more than a year. But he is prepared
to
consistently defend his position in all courts, because he
understands that he
will be rehabilitated," Leontiev told Taiga.info.
The European Court of
Human Rights
accepted an appeal of the Klimov case. His wife, Iulia, was
among the wives of
detained Jehovah's Witnesses who signed the appeal to the
Council on Human Rights
under the Russian president. The council, in its turn, addressed
the office of
the prosecutor general.
"In exchange for freedom
and a
peaceful life they offer us renunciation of our faith. This is
not a figure of
speech. In the literal sense of the word investigators offer to
us to sign a
paper in order to avoid punishment for 'extremism.' Otherwise,
they say, no
lawyers can help us. But we cannot cease believing in God," the
[wives'] letter
says.
In December 2018 a member
of the Council
on Human Rights, Ekaterina Shulman, described for the president
the criminal
cases against believers and the fact that of 489 forbidden
organizations, 404
were Jehovah's Witnesses.
"The Jehovah's Witnesses
are also
Christians, for which they are persecuted. I do not understand
that very well.
Therefore it is necessary simply to analyze what to do,"
Vladimir Putin
answered.
The
Memorial rights
advocacy center writes that 143 believers have been subjected to
criminal
prosecution, 27 are in a SIZO, and 34 are under house arrest.
These include
Siberians.
Criminal
cases are
reported in Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Omsk oblasts, the
Krasnoyarsk territory,
and Khakasia. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 October 2019)
TOMSK
PROSECUTOR'S
OFFICE ASKS FOR 7 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SERGEI KLIMOV BECAUSE OF
HIS RELIGIOUS
CONFESSION
Jehovah's
Witnesses
in Russia, 21 October 2019
On 21
October 2019,
hearings continued in Tomsk in the case of Sergei Klimov, who is
accused of
extremism only because he did not cease to profess his religion
after the
decision of the Supreme Court. The prosecutor's office considers
that this
"crime" should be punished by 7 years imprisonment.
The
believer is
being tried on the basis of part 1 of article 282 of the CC RF
(arranging the
activity of an extremist organization). Speaking in the debates
in October
district court of Tomsk, the prosecutor declared that all
confirmations of
Klimov's "extremist activity" had been found, for example making
speeches and singing songs. At the same time the prosecutor
acknowledged that the
defendant's involvement in a forbidden religious organization
had not been
legally established, although in the opinion of the prosecution
there are signs
pointing to his role as the "effective director" and "spiritual
leader."
The
prosecutor's
office asked for a punishment of the defendant in the form of 7
years
incarceration to be served in a correctional penal colony of
general regime,
plus another year and a half of restricted liberty. Also it was
proposed to
forbid engaging in educational activity and posting any
materials on the
internet for 8 years.
The
next court
hearing is scheduled for 28 October, after which the issuing of
a sentence is
expected.
Sergei
Klimov has been
in a SIZO for more than a year, since 3 June 2018. . . . (tr. by
PDS, posted 21
October 2019).
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