OVERVIEW OF HEARING IN CASE OF DANISH BELIEVER IN OREL
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 15 May 2018
The hearing in the criminal case of Dennis Christensen, who has been in the local SIZO for his faith almost a year, continued [on 14 May] in the Zheleznodorozhny district court of the city of Orel.
The session opened at 10:40. Three witnesses for the prosecution appeared in court. They were explained their rights and duties, and one by one they were summoned into the courtroom.
The first to be questioned was precinct police officer Maksim Ranev, on whose territory the building in which Jehovah's Witnesses conducted their worship services is located. After the court's [2016] decision to liquidate and prohibit the activity of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Orel, Ranev did not visit this building and he did not enter into it. He also explained that he could not distinguish the activity of a religious group from the activity of a local religious organization inasmuch as he did not have the right to conduct search operation activities.
The second witness for the prosecution, Eduard Gavrikov, explained that his mother, with whom he does not live, professes the religion of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Gavrikov acknowledged frankly that he views the Jehovah's Witnesses negatively and he consider this religion to be false. He knows about the worship services from his mother's words. Christensen came to his mother's apartment in order to help release her niece who was at her home and was not able to get out of the bathroom because of a broken lock. When Gavrikov was asked what he understood the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses to be, he answered that they are people who believe in the God Jehovah. He never attended a worship service of the Witnesses since he saw no sense in it. He himself is Orthodox and he was baptized in an Orthodox church without, by his own admission, have been asked for his consent.
The third witness for the prosecution, Pavel Azarenkov, is an F.S.B. operative. He conducted surveillance of Christensen at the site of services. He recorded everything on audio and video recording equipment.
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