BELARUS
REFUSES TO
EXTRADITE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS FOR RUSSIA
Belorusskii
Partisan,
8 April 2020
The
office of the
prosecutor general of Belarus refused Russia's request to
extradite Nikolai
Makhalichev. He has been released from custody, the rights
organization Human
Constanta told Radio Liberty.
The
Russian adherent
of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses was in
custody in Belarus
for a month and a half. Rights advocates hope that Belarusian
authorities will
grant him the status of a refugee or asylum, after which he will
be able to
live in safety.
We
recall that
36-year-old Nikolai Makhalichev was arrested on 21 February in
Gorodok in
Vitebsk oblast. He was told that Russia had placed him on an
international
wanted list because he belongs to a forbidden religious
community. Three days
after that, a deputy prosecutor of Gorodok district sent the
Jehovist to a
Vitebsk SIZO.
Amnesty
International
urges Belarus not to extradite the adherent of Jehovah's
Witnesses Nikolai
Makhalichev to the Russian Federation, where he faces criminal
prosecution and
torture. This is stated in a declaration posted on the website
of the
organization and addressed to Prosecutor General Alexander
Koniuk.
According
to the
Russian civil rights center Memorial, at least 200 Jehovah's
Witnesses have
been prosecuted under article 282.2 of the CC RF, "Arranging the
activity
of a religious organization, with respect to which a decision
has been made for
liquidation because of the conduct of extremist activity."
The
sanction in this
article provides for up to 10 years imprisonment. As Memorial
reports, as of
today, at least 15 Jehovah's Witnesses are in custody and 24 are
under house
arrest. Another 163 have other measures of prevention.
In
Belarus, the
society of Jehovah's Witnesses is officially registered. There
are more than
6,000 believers. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 April 2020)
PROSECUTOR
GENERAL OF
BELARUS REFUSES EXTRADITION TO RUSSIA OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
ADHERENT DETAINED
IN VITEBSK
Nikolai
Makhalichev
was released on 7 April, BelaPAN was told by the coordinator
of action for
defense of human rights of foreign citizens and persons
without citizenship of
the organization Human Constanta, Enira Bronitskaia.
She
said that
Makhalichev plans to get the status of a refugee in Belarus,
for which he
applied on the day of his arrest, 21 February 2020, in Gorodok
(Vitebsk
oblast).
Bronitskaia
reported
that the man was arrested because he was on an international
wanted list at
Russia's request. Mikhalichev was put into SIZO No. 2 in
Vitebsk, where he
spent more than 40 days, and documents were requested from
Russian law
enforcement agencies, on the basis of which the office of
prosecutor general of
Belarus made its decision.
As the
representative
of Human Constanta noted, Makhalichev maintains that he did
not know about the
opening in January 2019 of a criminal case against him for
arranging and
financing the activity of an extremist organization, which the
Jehovah's
Witnesses were ruled to be, back in 2017. In Russia,
Makhalichev would face a
trial and imprisonment of up to 15 years.
Since
2017, more
than100 adherents of the community have been convicted in
various regions. In
Belarus, one religious association of Jehovah's Witnesses and
27 congregations
are registered with the commissioner for affairs of religions
and
nationalities. They conduct their congresses in the country
without hindrance.
(tr. by PDS, posted 8 April 2020)
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