COURT
REFUSES TO
LEAVE DAGESTANI JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN DETENTION CELL
The
Supreme Court of
Dagestan did not grant the request of an investigator to extend
the term of
detention in custody for four Jehovah's Witnesses, and it
transferred them to
house arrest. After almost a year, the investigation added new
charges of
extremism for all four, their attorney explained.
As
Kavkazskii Uzel
wrote, on 13 April the Supreme Court of Dagestan left in force a
decision of
the Soviet district court of Makhachkala to extend until 27 May
the term of
detention of the four Jehovah's Witnesses.
The four
Dagestani
Jehovah's Witnesses—Arsen Abdullaev, Maria Karpova, Anton
Dergalev, and Marat
Abdulgalimov—have been in custody since June 2019 on a charge of
extremism,
despite a ruling by a cassation court in Pyatigorsk on 4 March
that a decision
rendered in September 2019 to extend their detention for two
months was
illegal. The Supreme Court of Dagestan left them in detention,
after not
agreeing to add to materials of the case the determination of
the cassation
curt. On 25 March, the defense requested the dismissal of the
judge of the
Soviet district court of Makhachkala, whose decision to extend
detention was
found to be without basis by the cassation court. The judge
responded with a
refusal, and on 26 March ordered to extend the term of detention
by another two
months.
The
Dagestani Supreme
Court reviewed the petition of the investigator of the
republican directorate
of the F.S.B. for extending the measure of prevention for the
accused on 26
May, but the announcement of the decision regarding it was
scheduled for today.
The court ordered the transfer of all four accused to house
arrest, an employee
of the court's press service told a Kavkazskii Uzel
correspondent today.
The
defense requested
that the accused be released from detention, their attorney
Anton Bogdanov
explained for a Kavkazskii Uzel correspondent. "The investigator
insisted
on extending the term of detention, but the defense requested
the consideration
of an alternative measure. In particular, release on bail or
with a prohibition
on certain activities. We consider that house arrest also is a
rather harsh
measure, but in any case it is better than being in the SIZO.
Therefore we
presented to the court the necessary documents for living
quarters, where my
clients could be in the event of their transfer to house arrest.
In the end the
court agreed with our arguments and mitigated the measure of
prevention,"
the lawyer explained.
He said
that the
accused themselves were not present in court and video
communication from the
SIZO was set up. Close relatives also were not permitted into
the court
session, since the restrictions because of the threat of the
spread of the
coronavirus continue in effect for courts.
The
defense attorney
suggested that a combination of circumstances affected the
court's decision.
"In the first place, it is certain that on 30 April,
investigative bodies
completed the investigation of the case and now it is in the
familiarization
stage. Therefore the argument that the accused might affect the
course of the
investigation, which the prosecution cited in its petition,
collapses. The
investigation has been completed, and there is nothing to
prevent. Second, the
possibility of flight –another argument to which the
investigation constantly
appealed—is reduced by the conditions of the ban on travel that
has been
imposed, plus the closing of the borders and cancellation of air
travel. It is
possible that the two decisions of the cassation court had some
significance,
which found the detention in custody of my clients to be
illegal. Although
hitherto the court did not take them into account, but it is
possible that in
combination it was considered," Anton Bogdanov said.
On 25
April, the
Fifth Cassation Court of general jurisdiction overturned the
decision of the
district court in Makhachkala to extend the detention of the
four defendants.
But the believers could not walk out free since by that time
they were in
detention on the basis of a different decision of the court.
That was the
second decision of the cassation court finding the detention of
the believers
in custody to be illegal.
Personnel
of the
Federal Penitentiary Service should deliver the defendants to
the place of
house arrest after a certified copy of the court's order is
delivered to the
SIZO, the attorney said.
All four
have been
presented new charges of extremism. He said that in late April
the
investigators presented new charges to all four believers.
Abdullaev, Dergalev,
and Abdulgalimov were charged with financing extremist activity
and Maria
Karpova was charged with recruitment into extremis activity,
Bogdanov reported.
"We
consider
these charges to be absurd. The new article was added to Karpova
simply because
she conversed about the Bible with people," the lawyer said. He
said the
criminal cases are combined in a single proceeding and after the
defense and
prosecution acquaint themselves with all the materials, the case
will be sent
to the court for consideration on the merits. (tr. by PDS,
posted 28 May 2020)
Background articles:
Jehovah's
Witnesses caught in complicated appeals process
March 4, 2020
Jehovah's
Witnesses in south Russia face delays of trial while in
custody
February 26, 2020
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