OVERVIEW OF HEARING IN CASE OF DANISH BELIEVER IN OREL
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 9 April 2018
On 3 April 2018, around forty people who arrived at the session gathered before 10:30 in the building of the Zheleznodorozhny district court of the city of Orel. These were relatives and friends of Christensen, journalists of the Orel news media, lawyers, prosecutors, and a translator. The prosecution was representatives by a prosecutor of the investigative department of the prosecutor's office of Orel oblast, attorney first class Ivan Fomin, and junior counselor of justice Nadezhda Naumova. Lawyers for the defendant were Anton Bogdanov, Viktor Zhenkov, and Irina Krasnikova. The defendant was provided a translator.
At 10:44, Judge Aleksei Rudnev opened the court session and after a few minutes the defendant, Dennis Christensen, was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs by a security guard.
The judge explained the rights and duties of the translator. He is permitted to ask questions only to clarify the meaning and he bears criminal accountability for a deliberately incorrect translation. After this the judge announced the rules for the session, rules of conduct of those present, and also the rights of the accused. Christensen thanked the judge for the detailed explanation.
The judge reviewed Christensen's request for permitting him a telephone conversation with his wife. The judge reported that the result of the review will be presented to him at his location (in the SIZO).
Attorney Bogdanov filed a petition for an extension of the period for becoming acquainted with materials of the case, since due to circumstances beyond his control he had managed to familiarize himself with only 8 of the 12 volumes of the criminal case. In addition, he was not sufficiently acquainted with the substantive evidence existing in the case, which were collected by investigators: videos, photographs, and objects seized as the result of searches. Prosecutor Fomin objected against granting Christensen time for acquaintance with materials of the case; he thinks it to be an intentionally dragging out of the process. After conversations with the interpreter Usokov about the technical possibility for acquainting the defendant with materials of the case, the judge partially granted the defense petition. Christensen was permitted to acquaint himself with the materials of the case, but not with the substantive evidence. He was granted another six meetings with the translator and after this, on 23 April 2018, at 10:30 a.m. the session will be continued.
Upon the ending of the court session, those in attendance had several moments in order to speak words of support to the believer. Christensen warmly thanked everybody. (tr. by PDS, posted 12 April 2018)
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