TWO WOMEN RESIDENTS OF BLAGOVESHCHENSK BECOME DEFENDANTS IN CASE OF MEMBERSHIP IN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
The directorate of the F.S.B. for Amur oblast arraigned Kristina Golik and Maria Portniagina as defendants in a criminal case about belonging to an extremist organization (part 2, article 282.2 of Criminal Code). Both women are pledged not to leave their place of residence. This was reported on 27 July by a portal devoted to the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.
The investigation considers that they "performed actions pertaining to the continuation of illegal activity of the Centralized Religious Organization and Local Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Blagoveshchensk."
There are also two more suspects in the criminal case: Ekaterina Olyshevskaia and Valentina Ermilova.
Kristina Golik's husband, Dmitry Golik, was sentenced by the Blagoveshchensk city court on 30 June 2021 to seven years in a penal colony of ordinary regime on the basis of the article concerning organizing an extremist community. Their fellow believer Aleksei Berchuk was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony on the basis of the same article. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 August 2021)
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