LEADER OF CELL OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONVICTED IN KIROV
Echo of Kirov, 23 October 2020
In Kirov, the leader of a cell of Jehovah's Witnesses (an organization forbidden on Russian territory) was convicted. He was found guilty of arranging the activity of an extremist organization.
In the trial it was proven that over the course of almost three years, the man took active steps so that the organization "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" (an organization forbidden on Russian territory) would continue to operate, and he also spread its ideology in Kirov. All of his actions he coordinated with the higher-level organization. He arranged meetings in the apartments of members in the form of worship services and he made assignments. In addition, while conducting the meetings he organized with the participants the collection of money in the form of donations.
As a result, the court assessed the citizen of
Kirov a
penalty in the form of a fine of 500,000 rubles. The sentence has
still not
taken legal effect. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 October 2020)
CHIEF KIROV JEHOVIST FINED HALF-MILLION RUBLES INSTEAD OF PRISON
A sentence was issued in Kirov to the leader of the Kirov department of a religious organization that is forbidden in Russia.
The court sentenced the leader of the "Severo-Zapadnoe" congregation of the religious organization of the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses" (which has been forbidden in Russian since 2017), Anatoly Tokarev, to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles.
We recall that earlier the state prosecutor asked for a punishment for him of 3.5 years incarceration in a penal colony of general regime. According to the account of the investigation, since 2017 he has been engaged in spreading the ideology of the association in Kirov. He worked by conspiratorial means, assigning roles to participants in worship meetings in apartments of reading the sect's books and singing songs and also collecting donations from the members.
Investigators of the first department for investigation of especially serious cases of the regional Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee established the circumstances of the violations of law and assembled a sufficient evidentiary base. The sentence has still not taken legal effect. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 October 2020)
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