COURT
OVERTURNS
SENTENCE OF URALS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, REMANDS CASE FOR NEW
CONSIDERATION
The
Sverdlovsk oblast
court overturned the sentences for three Jehovah's Witnesses (an
organization
ruled to be extremist and forbidden in R.F.) from Karpinsk and
sent back their
criminal case for a new consideration in the Karpinsk city
court. Znak.com was
told about this by one of the participants in the case,
Alexander Prianikov,
who added that they still do not know why the court overturned
the sentence,
since the reasoning portion of the decision has still not been
prepared.
According
to
Prianikov's information, the appellate complaint points out that
the court
incorrectly applied article 282.2 of the CC RF ("participation
in the
activity of a religious organization that has been banned by a
court because of
conduct of extremist activity") since neither he himself nor the
other
defendants were members of the legal entity of Jehovah's
Witnesses. Prianikov
also reported that his conversations "on biblical topics" were
not
intended to encourage extremist actions.
The
subject of the
case also said that the court made a procedural error by closing
the session to
observers, although the petition for conducting the session in
open court had
been granted.
"The
court did
not take into account that the Russian Supreme Court did not
prohibit the
religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and "did not assess the legality
of the
religious convictions of Jehovah's Witnesses and the manner of
their
expression." Despite the liquidation of legal entities
[juridical
persons], I have the right, as before, to freely profess the
religion I have
selected, including reading the Bible and discussing it with
others," the
appeal says.
We
recall that in early
2020, the Karpinsk city court found Alexander Prianikov, Venera
Dulova, and her
daughter Daria Dulova guilty of the crime based on part 2 of
article 282.2 of
the CC RF ("participation in the activity of a religious
organization that
has been banned by a court because of conduct of extremist
activity").
Prianikov was sentenced to 2.6 years of incarceration,
suspended, with a term
of probation of 2 years, Venera Dulova was sentenced to 2 years,
suspended,
with a term of probation of 2 years, and Daria was sentenced to
one year of
prison, suspended, with a term of probation of one year. The
number of subjects
of a second case of Jehovah's Witnesses from Karpinsk was
increased to six.
As
stated in the
materials of the case, the man and the mother and daughter
preached their doctrine
among residents of the city, promoted the "ideas of the
superiority of
some groups of people over others," and "incited religious
strife." Investigators conclude that the defendants disseminated
information in the city with printed materials and reproduced
video and audio
materials about the Jehovah's Witnesses,"wishing to exert
psychological
influence upon society with the aim of promoting ideas of the
superiority of
some groups of people over others, inciting religious strife,
and promoting
exclusivity."
The
criminal case
against them was opened after they visited the home of criminal
investigator OP
No. 32, who contacted the police after their visit.
Now
Prianikov and the
Dulovas are subjects in yet another case about the activity of
Jehovah's
Witnesses. In early 2020, S.K.R. investigators opened a criminal
case against
them based on part 1.1 of article 282.2 of the CC RF
("Recruitment into an
extremist organization"). Searches were conducted in the
believers' home
on 30 March and agents seized literature and technology. It was
later learned
that investigators interrogated Pranikov's wife, Anastasia, and
also Svetlana
and Ruslan Zaliaev. They were suspected of activity of a
forbidden religious
organization (based on part 2 of article 282.2 of CC RF).
The
press service of
the investigation department of the Investigative Committee of
the RF for
Sverdlovsk oblast stated that they will not comment on the
course of the
investigation of the new case. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 August
2020)
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