RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


One year after arrest, Jehovah's Witness suspect is freed

KRASNOYARSK BELIEVER RELEASED FROM HOUSE ARREST

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 3 July 2019

 

On 2 July 2019, a court in Krasnoyarsk released Andrei Stupnikov, who had been held under house arrest for his faith. Now he will be able to travel freely.

 

Judge Svetlana Sakovich of the Lenin district court of the city of Krasnoyarsk ordered the release of 44-year-old Andrei Stupnikov from house arrest and selected for him a measure of restriction in the form of prohibition on specific activities. He cannot use the postal service and the internet nor communicate with witnesses questioned in his criminal case.

 

Friends and relatives of Andrei do not conceal their joy regarding the release, although the criminal case against him has not been closed. As before, the believer faces up to 10 years imprisonment for organizing extremist activity (part 1 of article 282.2 of the CC RF). This is the way law enforcement agencies interpret his conversations on biblical topics with friends.

 

The criminal case against Andrei Stupnikov was opened on 3 July 2018. He spent 241 days in a SIZO and in February 2019 a court transferred him to house arrest. His case was the first criminal case in Krasnoyarsk territory that was opened on the basis of religious affiliation. Another two residents of the territory are in a similar situation, whom the authorities suspect of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses: Dmitry Maslov in Minusinsk and Anton Ostapenko, who is still being held in a SIZO in the city of Achinsk. Russian and international rights organizations and public figures have decisively condemned religious repression in Russia. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 July 2019)


Background articles:
Jehovah's Witness nabbed as he tries to board plane
July 3, 2018
Actions against Jehovah's Witnesses in Krasnoyarsk territory
April 19, 2019


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