RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Jehovah's Witness loses first round of appeal against conviction

TOMSK JEHOVAH'S WITNESS LEFT IN PENAL COLONY FOR SIX YEARS

Taiga.Info, 20 February 2020

 

The Tomsk oblast court left in force the verdict on Jehovah's Witness Sergei Klimov. The defense will file an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights.

 

The oblast court did not satisfy Klimov's appeal against the sentence of the October district court of Tomsk, the lawyer Artur Leontiev told Taiga.Info on 20 February.

 

"After receiving the reasoned judicial act, an appeal will be filed in the E.C.H.R. and the question of a higher [cassation] appeal will be resolved," Leontiev explained.

 

In the appeal of the defense, attention was called to the fact that the court of the first instance needed only 1 or 2 hours in order to resolve in the conference room all questions of the criminal case and also to print the sentence on 17 pages.

 

In addition, there was no expert conclusion of a specialist in the area of religious studies. Such a document had been prepared by a former deputy head of the department of sociological analysis of the administrative apparatus of the Federation Council, Sergei Ivanenko, who defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic of the evolution of the ideology of Jehovah's Witnesses in the years 2006 to 2018. He pointed out that Klimov, who identifies himself with this confession, does not associate himself with any specific legal entity, the lawyer on the appeal stated in his explanations.

 

"As the religious studies analysis in the materials presented shows, in order to identify with his chosen religious confession, Klimov did not need to create or revive any kind of organization provided for by existing legislation of the Russian Federation," the lawyer noted.

 

In November 2019, the October district court of Tomsk found Sergei Klimov guilty under part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code (organizing the activity of a religious association that has been liquidated by a court because of the conduct of extremist activity). Judge Dmitry Borisov sentenced him to six years in a penal colony of general regime; the state prosecution had asked for seven years.

 

In 2017, the Russian Supreme Court banned the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and its regional affiliates, finding them to be extremist. The court decided that Klimov "was the effective leader" of the local "Northern Tomsk" organization, one of the subdivisions of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia forbidden by the Supreme Court. He allegedly assembled believers in the home of one of the members of the congregation and conducted services there. The charges were built on the testimony of a secret witness, who refused in court to answer most questions of the defense.

 

Klimov "undermined the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the state, leading to the creation of socially harmful consequences in the form of the violation of the rights, liberties, and legal interests of man and citizen, as the result of the incitement of religious strife and the promotion of exclusivity and of the superiority of a person on the basis of his religious affiliation and attitude toward religion," the decision of the court says. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 February 2020)


Background article:
Jehovah's Witness in Tomsk receives excessive punishments
November 5, 2019

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