BELIEVER IMPRISONED FOR TWO MONTHS FOR CONVERSATIONS ON
RELIGIOUS
TOPICS IN SHARYPOV
Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia, 26 April 2019
On 24 April 2019, Inga Gavritskaia, a judge of the
Sharypov city court
of Krasnoyarsk territory, ordered the imprisonment for a term of
two months of
the 28-year-old driver of an power station, Anton Ostapenko. He
was arrested
during widespread searches in believers' homes that were
conducted throughout
the city on 19 April. In the opinion of the investigation, the
believer is an
"arranger of the activity of an extremist organization." (part
1,
article 282.2 CCRF).
The case was opened on 19 April 2019 by the senior
investigator of the
special department for Sharypov district of the Investigation
Department of the
Investigative Committee of Russia (SKR) for Krasnoyarsk
territory, Yu.
Fedyniak. The charge is based on evaluation of conversations
about the Bible
that were recorded on a hidden video camera in the home of one
of the
believers.
In considering the petition of the investigator for
imprisoning
Ostapenko, the judge ignored the arguments of the lawyer that
during the search
in his apartment, no weapons or traces of a crime were found. It
made no impact
on the court's decision even that the defendant is described
positively by
everybody who knows him, he never has been criminally liable,
and he cares for
his disabled mother.
The searches on 19 April 2019 in Sharypov were carried
out in a total
of ten homes of believers. They followed a similar pattern:
groups of personnel
of the FSB and the Investigative Committee blockaded peaceful,
unarmed people
in their homes, took from them all electronic equipment and
Bibles (including
in the synodal translation), forbade them from conversing with
one another, and
interrogated them. Several were arrested and taken to the
investigation
department. Believers reported that they experienced great
stress and some
became ill.
Law enforcement personnel in Sharypov, copying their
colleagues from
other cities of Russia, came to the incorrect conclusion that
ordinary
religious activity of citizens (reading the Bible, prayers) are
a
"continuation of the activity of an extremist organization."
International organizations, the Council on Human Rights, and
even the
president of Russia have frequently called attention to this
pernicious
practice and its sad consequences. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 April
2019)
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/.