COURT IN
KARPINSK BEGINS CONSIDERATION
OF CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
by Yaromir
Romanov
The Karpinsk
city court began
consideration of a criminal case of extremism (part 2 of article
282.2 of the
Criminal Code of the RF) against three Jehovah's Witnesses (the
organization is
forbidden in the RF): 32-year-old Alexander Prianikov,
51-year-old Venera
Dudovaia, and her 19-year-old daughter Daria. According to the
court file, the
first session was held yesterday, 12 September.
The court made
a decision concerning
use of new evidence. The next session will be held on 16
September.
According to
the account of the
investigation, the man and the mother and her daughter preached
their teaching
among residents of the city, promoting "the ideas of the
superiority of
some groups of people over others," and "they incited religious
strife." The investigators conclude that the defendants
distributed in the
city information and printed materials and they reproduced video
and audio
materials about Jehovah's Witnesses, "wishing to exert
psychological
influence upon society with the goal of promotion of ideas of
the superiority
of some groups of people over others, incitement of religious
strife, and the
propaganda of exceptionality."
The Jehovah's
Witnesses told Znak.com
that now they spend a large portion of their time on religious
activity.
Alexander Prianikov estimates that there are about 40 Jehovah's
Witnesses total
in Karpinsk and Volchansk. And although in the organization they
fear that
sooner or later all may wind up in the prisoner's dock, none
intend to cease
their activity. Znak.com's informants give assurances that in
Karpinsk the
Jehovah's Witnesses have a good reputation and the accused have
not noticed a
change in attitudes toward them because of the criminal case
either among
relatives or among acquaintances. (tr. by PDS, posted 16
September 2019)
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