ONE OF TWO AMERICAN MORMONS* NOW IN SPECIAL HOLDING FACILITY IN KUBAN TO BE FORCIBLY EXPELLED FROM R.F.
Interfax-Religiia, 7 March 2019
On Thursday, the Krasnodar territorial court left in force the decision of a court in Novorossiisk concerning administrative accountability of a citizen of the U.S.A., Cole Devich Brodovsky, for violation of border regulations.
As an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom, by a decision of the Primorskii district court of Novorossiisk, which has taken effect, the American citizen was found to be guilty of violation of border regulations within a border zone (part 2, article 18.8 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law of the RF), and an administrative fine of 2,000 rubles was imposed on him, with the subsequent forcible expulsion beyond the boundaries of the RF.
Earlier, the American's lawyer, Sergei Gliznutsa, appealed the decision of the court of the first instance.
"The conclusions about the educational activity, which the American citizen allegedly conducted, were made by the police on the basis of a fifteen-minute conversation in English. The fact of payment for service was not established, and in the meeting there were no assignments or textbooks, and the participants did not take notes nor have notebooks," the lawyer said in court.
He also emphasized that Cole Devicha Brodovsky arrived in Russia in the capacity of a volunteer with a missionary purpose, and he participated in official activities of the religious organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
"The charter of the religious organization, which was registered by the Russian Ministry of Justice, provides for the conduct of various cultural and educational events, including conversations and discussions with foreign citizens in a foreign language," S. Gliznutsa noted.
On 2 March, two citizens of the U.S.A., members of the religious organization of Mormons, Cole Devich Brodovsky and David Udo Hague, by decision of the Primorskii district court of Novorossiisk, were found guilty of violating border regulations within a border zone (part 2, article 18.8, of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law of RF). At the present time they are in a special holding facility for persons subject to administrative arrest, in the city of Gulkevichi.
According to the theory of the prosecution, the foreign citizens, while in Novorossiisk, conducted educational activity that did not comport with the declared purpose of entry into the Russian Federation. In court they declared that they arrived in Russia in the capacity of volunteers of the aforementioned organization of Mormons and do not have special training for conducting educational activity. However the testimony of the foreigners was refuted by a number of witnesses. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 March 2019)
*Tr. note: The Russian news service seems not to be honoring the recently announced desire of Latter-Day Saints not to be called "Mormons" anywhere in the world.
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.