CRIMEAN
JEHOVAH'S WITNESS SENTENCED TO SIX YEARS IN PENAL COLONY
The
Dzhankoy district court in Crimea sentenced an adherent of the
Jehovah's
Witnesses, Sergei Filatov, to six years in a prison colony in a
case regarding
arranging the activity of an extremist organization (part 1 or
article 282.2 of
the Criminal Code). This was reported on the court's website.
The
prosecutor's office had requested seven years incarceration for
the father of
four children.
"I
am being convicted for the fact that I am a Christian and I
consider my faith
to be true. And because of my assurance that I am standing on
the correct path,
I cannot renounce it," Filatov said during his final word.
On
the same day, a Yalta city court issued a sentence for another
Jehovist, Artem
Gerasimov. The prosecutor's office requested to sentence him to
6.5 years in a penal
colony; the court assigned a 400,000 ruble fine. Gerasimov was
charged on the
same article as Filatov.
In
2017, the Supreme Court found the Jehovah's Witnesses to be an
extremist organization
and banned it. After that, dozens of believers have been
subjected to criminal
prosecution and several have described tortures.
Before
the sentence was issued for Filatov, another three Jehovists had
received six
years each in a penal colony: the Dane Dennis Christensen from
Orel, Sergei
Klimov from Tomsk, and Vladimir Alushkin of Penza. (tr. by PDS,
posted 5 March
2020)
"I WILL
BE
IMPRISONED TO INTIMIDATE EVERYBODY ELSE IN CRIMEA"-- JEHOVAH'S
WITNESS FILATOV
ON EVE OF SENTENCE
Jehovah's
Witness
Sergei Filatov, who was sentenced to six years in a penal
colony, said on the
eve of his sentencing, 4 March, that he fears a guilty verdict.
Filatov
clarified that he may be imprisoned "to intimidate everybody
else in
Crimea."
This is
what he said
to Krym.Realii in commenting on his expectation regarding the
upcoming
sentence.
"I will
not say
that I harbor illusions regarding a verdict of acquittal. The
policy of the
state is such that Jehovah's Witnesses must be imprisoned. I
think they will
imprison me to intimidate everybody else, particularly in
Crimea. That is, they
have no choice—the decision is already made and it is necessary
to announce it.
Of course, I do not want to be put in prison. I am not a
fanatic. I want to be
alongside my family and at home," Filatov clarified.
Foreseeing
a guilty
verdict, the Crimean cited the example of the criminal
prosecution of Danish
citizen Dennis Christensen, whom a Russian court sentenced on 6
February 2019
to six years in a penal colony on a charge of participating in a
Jehovah's
Witnesses religious organization.
"This
situation
has developed. . . . If one takes the case of Dennis
Christensen, he wasn't
even a member of a local religious congregation at all; he
simply came for
worship services. And my situation. . . . I was not simply a
member of the
local religious organization, but I was its chairman, and they
told me that I
was continuing its activity after its prohibition and
liquidation (by decision
of the Russian Supreme Court—K.R.). Therefore, sure, I
understand, they can
give me a prison term," Filatov concluded.
A
Russian-controlled
Dzhankoy district court on 5 March sentenced a local resident,
Sergei Filatov,
to six years imprisonment to be served in a penal colony of
general regime.
A
Russian-controlled
Yalta city court sentenced a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses,
Artem
Gerasimov, to a fine of 400 thousand rubles.
Rights
advocates
consider these sentences in Crimea to be a violation of human
rights.
Earlier,
the Russian
prosecutor's office in annexed Crimea asked for seven years
incarceration for
the Dzhankoy resident Sergei Filatov.
Filatov
is the father
of four children. He "moved to Crimea from Kherson because of
the need to
care for his sick daughter."
The
criminal
prosecution of Artem Gerasimov began on 20 March 2019. He
conducted worship
services, which the investigation interprets as "arranging the
activity of
an extremist organization."
The
Memorial Center
for Human Rights considers the detained Jehovah's Witnesses to
be political
prisoners and demands an end to the persecution connected with
their religious
affiliation. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 March 2020)
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