RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


New level of harsh penalty requested for Jehovah's Witness

PSKOV PROSECUTOR ASKS RECORD 7.5 YEARS IN PENAL COLONY FOR FAITH IN JEHOVAH FOR GENNADY SHPAKOVSKY. SENTENCE TO BE ANNOUNCED 8 JUNE

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 3 June 2020

 

On 1 June 2020, 61-year-old Gennady Shpakovsky, delivering his final word in a Pskov city court, did not acknowledge himself guilty of extremism and he emphasized that he is being tried strictly for his faith. The prosecutor requested for him 7.5 years in a penal colony of general regime and 1.5 years of restricted liberty.

 

Referring to the frequent decisions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations Council on Human Rights demanding a cessation of repression of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, Gennady Shpakovsky submitted to the prosecutor's office and the court a petition for termination of the criminal case. Judge Galina Belik did not consider it necessary to take this into account.

 

At the court session, the prosecutor requested for Gennady the largest sentence that has been voiced in court in the time of religious persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in modern Russia: 7.5 years in a penal colony of general regime with subsequent restricted liberty for 1.5 years.

 

After the completion of the debates, the speech of the prosecutor, and Gennady Shpakovsky's final word, Judge Belik withdrew for determining the verdict, which will be announced on 8 June 2020 at 11:00 a.m.

 

Gennady Shpakovsky is charged with arranging and financing a forbidden organization (article 282.2 (1) and 282.3 (1) of the Criminal Code of the RF). The opening of the criminal case against him was learned about two years ago, after humiliating mass searches in homes of believers in Pskov. Before this, he had been trailed for several months collecting "clues"—evidence that he was continuing to read the Bible with fellow believers and to talk about God with other residents. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 June 2020)


Background article:
Leader of Pskov Jehovah's Witnesses awaits trial,
Sept. 13, 2018


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