SENTENCE
IMPOSED ON
FURMANOV JEHOVIST
Prosecutor
had asked
for 7 years incarceration as punishment; defense insisted on
acquittal
In the
city of Furmanov
of Ivanovo oblast, a sentence was pronounced on an adherent of
the religious
organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is considered in
Russia to be
extremist. The believer was accused of organizing a forbidden
religious
association.
Evgeny
Spirin was
arrested in January 2019. The adherent of the Jehovah's
Witnesses was accused
of organizing a forbidden religious association and sent to a
SIZO [pretrial
investigation cell]. After five months, the measure of restraint
was changed to
house arrest, from which he was released after another half a
year.
We
recall, the
Supreme Court found the religious organization "Administrative
Center of
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" to be extremist, as were also all
of its affiliates
in the regions. The investigation, and subsequently also the
prosecutor's
office, claimed that the Furmanov Jehovist continued even after
the ban to
conduct meetings with fellow believers and to organize them.
Spirin himself and
his defense attorney do not talk about meetings but about
gatherings of
like-minded people. They claim that after the ban, all ties with
the Administrative
Center were broken.
The
prosecution
requested sending the defendant to a prison colony of general
regime for seven
years; the defense insisted on acquittal.
Today,
28 July, the
Furmanov district court sentenced Evgeny Spirin to pay a fine of
700 thousand
rubles. However the punishment was immediately mitigated by
lowering the fine
to a half million, taking into account the time spent by Spirin
in the SIZO and
under house arrest. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2020)
Background article:
Prosecutor
asks for longest term yet for Jehovah's Witness
July 9, 2020
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