LAWYERS COMPARE PROSECUTION OF CHRISTENSEN WITH GENOCIDE
Lawyers for the Dane Dennis Christensen, who is charged in Orel with organizing the activity of the association of Jehovah's Witnesses that is banned in Russia (article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the RF), compared his prosecution with genocide. Defense attorney Viktor Zhenkov stated this on 23 April in the Zheleznodorozhny district court where the judicial process for the Dane has begun.
After the representative of the prosecutor's office announced the factual allegations brought against Christensen, Zhenkov asked to express the opinion of the defense. In particular, he declared that in Russia it is only the legal entity that is prohibited, but the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses has not been prohibited by a single court. Therefore, in the Dane's lawyer's opinion, the indictment contains signs of "discrimination and genocide."
"A resident of Orel oblast who confesses this religion actually is forced to renounce his faith or leave his own country," the defense attorney added. Colleagues of Zhenkov supported him and also asked the court to return the case to the prosecutor's office. However the judge refused to do this.
Dennis Christensen was arrested on 26 May 2017. Since then he has been held in a SIZO. The day before his arrest, FSB and police conducted searches in the house where local adherents of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, which is prohibited in Russia, assembled. The siloviki reported that during the searches extremist literature was seized. In addition, they noted in the security agency that testimony of witnesses was received regarding participation of the Dane in a crime of an extremist nature.
According to the indictment brought against Christensen, while he was sufficiently aware about the court's decision that banned the local Orel Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization in 2016, he nevertheless continued to direct and conduct meetings and worship services and to distribute religious literature, including some that had been ruled to be extremist.
In July 2017, the rights advocacy organization Memorial recognized Christensen as a political prisoner. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 April 2018)
OVERVIEW OF HEARING OF THE CASE OF DANISH
BELIEVER IN OREL Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia, 24 April 2018 On 23 April 2018, in the court session in
the case of the
Danish believer Dennis Christensen, the indictment brought
against him was
announced. The defendant and his attorneys expressed their
attitude toward this
charge. The subsequent order of the judicial proceedings was
determined. The hearing began at 10:40. Christensen
thanked Judge Rudnev
for the opportunity to acquaint himself with all 12 volumes of
the case, but he
specified that he was not allowed to acquaint himself "with
physical
evidence" (audio and video recordings of the operational
surveillance and
also the printed productions and personal effects that were
seized from
believers). Prosecutor Fomin announced the indictment.
To the question
whether the charge was clear to him, Christensen explained
that it was clear
only in part. Many charges were worded so generally that he
did not understand
just what he was accused of. In expressing his attitude toward the
indictment, attorney
Zhenkov stated that the defense intended to help the court
clearly delineate
what should be considered to be the consequences of the
liquidation of a
specific legal entity and what is the inviolable right of a
person to freedom
of religious confession. Attorney Bogdanov expressed his
attitude and that of
attorney Krasnikova to the indictment: by virtue of the
provisions of articles
14 and 73 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RF, an
evaluation of a
person's actions that depend upon his religious confession may
not be a subject
of a criminal proceeding. In the conclusion of the indictment
there is no
specification of the essence of the charge, nor a description
of the places and
times of commission of the criminal actions or the methods,
consequences, and
other substantive circumstances, without which it is
impossible to establish a
judicial verdict. Then the judge stated the order of the
proceedings: first,
the questioning of witnesses, then the questioning of the
defendant, and
finally the debate by the parties. The schedule of hearings in
subsequent
months: 24 and 25 April, 14, 15, 16, 28, 29, 30 May 2018. The
start is at 10:30
a.m. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 April 2018)
Jehovah's
Witness wins postponement of trial
April 9, 2018
Another
extension of trial of Danish Jehovah's Witness
April 3, 2018
Danish
Jehovah's Witness faces more than year in prison with no crime
proved
February 23, 2018
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