COURT IN KRASNOYARSK UPHOLDS SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
A Krasnoyarsk territorial court on 1 March upheld a suspended sentence of the Jehovah's Witness Vitaly Sukhov. This was reported by the website "Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia."
On 21 December 2021 the Zheleznodorozhny district court of Krasnoyarsk sentenced the believer to a suspended sentence of six years in prison.
Sukhov was found guilty on the basis of the article about arranging the activity of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 CC). The prosecution requested he be sentenced to six years in a penal colony.
The case against the believer was opened in May 2020, when a search was conducted in his residence. According to the account of the investigation, Sukhov, "acting under the direction and being in immediate canonical subjection" of a forbidden local religious organization, "organized religious events and worship services."
"The incidents of participation in worship services that I am accused of can signify only the exercise of the right to use methods of expressing faith, which the Russian Supreme Court has not assessed and has not banned. . . . I never was a member of the Krasnoyarsk local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, I did not participate in its activity, and I did not conduct in its name any kind of activities, which is proven by the materials of the case. I did not encourage anybody to hate or cause strife. All my actions were of a peaceful nature and I did not have any conflicts," the Jehovah's Witness declared in court. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 March 2022)
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