FINE
CHANGED TO SIX
YEARS IN PRISON FOR YALTA SUPPORTER OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Krymskii
Protsess, 4
June 2020
The
Supreme Court of
Crimea reviewed the sentence of a Yalta city court for Artem
Gerasimov, who is
charged with arranging the activity of a religious community
that is forbidden
in the RF. After review of the appeal, the court ordered a
punishment in the
form of imprisonment for six years instead of a fine. Artem
Gerasimov was taken
into custody in the courtroom.
Because
of
restrictions connected with the prevention of the spread of the
novel
coronavirus infection, observers were not permitted into the
session. About
twenty persons had gathered at the court to support Gerasimov.
We
recall that on 5
March, Judge Vladimir Romanenko, of the Yalta city court, found
Artem Gerasimov
guilty and ordered the payment of a fine of 400,000 rubles. It
is noteworthy
that simultaneously with the announcement of the sentence of
Artem Gerasimov,
in the Dzhankoy district court a sentence was announced in a
similar criminal
case for Sergei Filatov, who is charged on the basis of the same
article (282.2
of the CC of the RF) for continuing the activity of a
closed-down local
religious association of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Like in
the case of
Artem Gerasimov, the judicial process for Sergei Filatov was
declared to be
behind closed doors from one of its sessions on the basis of a
petition from
the prosecutor's office, in order to assure the safety of
witnesses. The court sentenced
Filatov to six years imprisonment to be served in a penal colony
of general
regime. An appellate instance left this decision without
changes.
Besides
this, in
August 2019, F.S.B. personnel arrested and subsequently charged
yet another
adherent of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses
from Sevastopol,
Viktor Stashevsky, on the basis of part 1 of article 282.2. At
the present
time, a preliminary judicial session is being conducted on his
case in the
Gagarin district court of Sevastopol. In addition, on 26 May
2020, security
officers conducted searches in homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in
the city of
Kerch. Several days later a criminal case based on article 282.2
of the CC of
the RF was opened against a local resident, Artem Shablii. (tr.
by PDS, posted
4 June 2020)
COURT IN
CRIMEA
CHANGES ON APPEAL JEHOVAH'S WITNESS' FINE TO SIX YEARS IN PRISON
The
Supreme Court of
Crimea changed on appeal the sentence of a Jehovah's Witness,
Artem Gerasimov,
from a fine of 400,000 rubles to a six-year prison term. This
was reported to
Grati by activists of the Crimean Solidarity association, citing
Gerasimov's
relatives.
On 5
March, Judge
Vladimir Romanenko of the Yalta city court found a local
resident, Artem
Gerasimov, guilty of arranging the activity of an extremist
organization and he
fined him 400,000 rubles. Prosecutor Oksana Chuchueva had
requested for him six
and a half years incarceration in a penal colony of general
regime and three
years prohibition on engaging in public activity.
"The
subject of
the criminal case, using his authority as a spiritual leader of
supporters of
the religious teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses, with the aid of
literature that
is included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials, arranged
discussions of
texts being read in question-answer form, asking precise
questions," the
press service of the Yalta city court reported at the time.
The
criminal case
against Gerasimov was opened in March 2019, at the same time as
searches were
conducted in his home and those of other Jehovah's Witnesses.
"How can
people
who will not bear arms, and are even ready to go to jail for
this, and who
reject every kind of violence be extremists?" Artem Gerasimov
appealed to
the judge in his final word.
Attorney
Alena
Borodina, who represented Gerasimov, considers that the
prosecution did not
present in court any evidence of extremist activity by her
client.
"The
trial was
closed, and therefore I cannot elaborate, but in the trial there
were
witnesses, including some who were pseudonymous, who were people
Artem did not
know," Borodina told Grati.
After
the sentence,
the prosecutor's office filed an appeal, which was reviewed
today in the
Crimean Supreme Court in a session that was closed because of
quarantine
measures. Gerasimov was taken into custody in the courtroom.
(tr. by PDS,
posted 4 June 2020)
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